The Assassin and The Princess
by PokeMaster64
Summary: Jango, a teenage Charmeleon orphan that has been raised to be a dangerous assassin, is on an important mission: kill Princess Amanda. But what happens when he falls in love with her. Craziness, that's what. Rated T for Blood and Death. No Flaming
1. Enter the Assassin

It was around sunset down at an old trailer park. The ground was just dirt with a few strands of grass. All of the trees were wilted with some still having a couple of leaves on them. The trailers all look completely rusty and dented. They were also completely covered in tons of litter. To some, this place would be considered a dump. But to the residents, it was home.

Outside one of the trailers, there were two people that seemed to be sparring against each other. But they weren't exactly people; they were more like unearthly creatures.

The first one was a large creature with thick looking blue legs and orange feet. It had what look like a yellow skirt with cut ridges. Its body was white and had an orange half-circle on its belly. It had huge orange hands that had three fingers. It appears to have no mouth and a blue headband thing that drapes down its body. It appears to look like a sumo wrestler.

The other one seemed to be some sort of giant ferret. It had white fur with pink fur on its paws, left ear, and a streak across its chest. It had a very large bushy tail. It also had two menacing looking claws on each paw.

The two Pokémon, which they are called, were both male and looked strong. They stared immensely into their eyes waiting for the other to strike. They waited for about five minutes until the ferret suddenly sprinted with blinding speed.

"Crush Claw!" it said as its claws glowed a light blue and prepared to land its mark. However, the sumo blocks the attack with his hands to take less damage. He then pushed the ferret away, but quickly regained its balanced.

He looked at the sumo and smirked. "Not bad, Hariyama." The ferret said very impressed.

"Your not bad yourself, Zangoose," Said Hariyama. "But you haven't seen anything yet. Focus Blast!" It then formed a large blue ball of energy and threw it right at Zangoose.

Zangoose tried blocking with his arms, but the force of the Focus Blast caused him to be violently blown into the side of the trailer. He tried to get up, but felt shaky and fell again. He looked up at Hariyama, who had his arms crossed from triumph, and said, "Can we take a break?"

"Sure, why not." He said casually as he helped Zangoose up and took him over to a bench. They have been training for about five hours with very little breaks. Zangoose grabbed his water bottle and chugged almost the entire thing. Then a thought just occurred in his head.

"Hey Hariyama, why did you ask me to train with you again?" He said because during the training he completely forgot his reason for training.

"Don't you remember?" Hariyama said and all he got was a confused look from Zangoose. He signed and then explained, "The king was holding an audition for a bodyguard to protect his daughter from any assassins. He said that sense she doesn't get to go into town that often, he decided to hire someone to protect her and after awhile, I manage to score the job."

"Wow, congrats dude!"

"Thanks buddy. It has always been a dream of mine to work for the royal guards."

"However I have one question." Zangoose said with concern in his voice. "Aren't you a little worried about possibly being attack by a member of the League of Assassins?"

"Nope. It's going to take a lot more than them to take me out. I can take them all out in one hit."

Zangoose still looked a bit uneasy. "I don't know dude. I have been hearing reports of murder around the area. Everyone has been saying it could have been the work of… him." He said grimly.

"Him? What on earth could you be possibly-"but then Hariyama stops to think for a second and realized what he was talking about. "Oh, him. Man I hate that guy. He's supposed to be wanted in twelve different regions."

"Exactly. I've also heard on TV that a witness saw an unusual wind in her yard, then heard a bloodcurdling scream, the same wind, and then… a dead Raticate." He said with hesitation on the last part. "My point is I just don't want that to happen to you."

"Look buddy, don't worry. Nothing bad will happen to me. Now come on, it's almost time for dinner." The mention of food perked up Zangoose and the both proceeded to their trailers.

Suddenly, a light breeze pass by them which made Zangoose shiver, but decided to ignore it. But, it started to pick up, going faster and faster. The winds were flinging litter all around the place. Hariyama looked at the wind as it started to move some of the smaller trailers a bit.

"Well, this is some crazy wind. Didn't the weather say anything about any strong winds, Zangoose?" There was no response. "Zangoose?" Still silence. "Zangoose, can you-"but when Hariyama turned around, he saw a terror struck Zangoose. "Dude, what's wrong?"

"It's him. I know it is. He's coming!"

"Dude, relax. He is not here. It's just a strong wind and nothing else." Hariyama said calmly in the situation.

"**If I were you, I would be listening to him, Hariyama!"**

They both turned around to the sound of the dark, menacing voice. Right in front of them was a dark looking figure. He was wearing black pants with dark blue rims and black biker boots. He had on a long sleeved black shirt with a dagger logo on it. Around him was a black cloak and a dark looking mask with piercing blue eyes that seemed to be designed for a certain Pokémon. Zangoose and Hariyama both stared at the figure with shocked looks.

"No, it can't be! It's… it's… it's," Hariyama couldn't finish his sentence because of the pure terror he was facing. The creature in front of him just laughed evilly.

"That's right, Hariyama. It is I, the bringer of death and destruction… Draco the Assassin!" He snapped his fingers and the entire wind storm subsided. "My boss has sent me here to have you exterminated."

"Hold it!" said Zangoose furiously despite the fact that he was scared out of his wits and his knees were shaking. "Why would your boss want Hariyama dead?"

"Believe it or not, I have no idea why my boss sent me here to get rid of him. All I know is that it was a very important mission that must be completed immediately."

"He must not know about your job." Zangoose whispered.

'"Well lets keep it that way. I don't want to put the princess in any danger." Hariyama whispered back.

"Ahem. If you're done talking to each other, I got a schedule to keep." Draco said coldly. "So, let's make a deal. You give yourself up and accept your death or you can try defeating me in a battle, which I recommend you don't."

Hariyama look at him for a second, then took a deep breath, and took a battle stance. Draco just chuckled thinking he went crazy.

"They always choose the battle." He said as he took his own stance.

After what seem like hours, which in reality was one minute, Hariyama struck first. "Brick Break!" His hand started to glow and then he struck a punch at Draco. But, Draco just stuck one hand out and blocks the attack without even moving an inch. Hariyama just stared in disbelief at his opponent's strength. "What the-"

"I warned you." Draco said evilly. He raised his other hand preparing to attack. "Dragon Claw." His claws started to glow blue and with amazing strength, slashed at Hariyama sending him flying to the side of a trailer.

Hariyama got up, but was in serious pain. He felt the side of his face where Draco hit him and could feel blood dripping down it. Zangoose stared in shock at what just happened. He then turned to Draco with blinding rage. "You're going to pay for that. Shadow Ball!" He then formed a ball of dark energy and threw it at him. But once again, he blocks the attack without taking any damage.

"My mission isn't with you. Thunder Punch." Draco's hand was then coated with electricity and at blinding speed, punches Zangoose right in the stomach. He was sent flying right into the ground. He tried getting up, when his body started sparking and he couldn't move. "Paralysis effect from the Thunder Punch. You won't be doing a lot of moving." Zangoose still tried to get up, but just kept failing on each attempt.

"Leave him out of this Draco." Hariyama yelled when he managed to recover most of his strength. "This battle is between you and me."

"Well what are you waiting for? Come and get me." Draco motioned Hariyama to attack him and did it in a mocking manner.

"That's it! Focus Punch!" He yelled as he charged with a powered up punch.

"Thunder Punch!" His hand electrified and started to charge at him, too.

The two attacks collided against each other and caused a minor explosion. The force of the explosion push them back an equal distance away from each other.

"Focus Blast!" Hariyama threw a ball of powerful energy at Draco and it managed to hit him in a large explosion. As the smoke cleared, Draco was there still standing without one scratch on him. Hariyama just stood there with absolute shock on his face. "Impossible! How did you manage to withstand that much power?"

Draco just shrugged. "Well, I have two theories. Either my defenses have been raised to their absolute potential or you are a pathetic weakling."

Hariyama was practically growling now. **"I. AM. NOT. WEAK!"**

"We'll see about that. Flamethrower!" Draco released a stream of blazing fire right out of a hole in his mask directly at Hariyama. The attack hit him dead on, but it didn't look like it did much. Hariyama just stood there laughing.

"Nice try, but my Thick Fat ability helps me withstand Ice _and_ Fire type moves."

"That's true, but tell me this. Does it help you block a burn effect as well?" Before Hariyama could answer that, he was suddenly engulfed in a giant flame that was inflicting major damage on him. "Guess not."

The flames eventually dissipated after awhile, but due to the effects, they will come back. "You… won't… win this… Draco." Hariyama panted.

"Hate to burst your bubble, Hotshot, but I just did. I've pushed you to the absolute limits of your abilities and so far, I'm not even mildly impressed. You call yourself a Fighting-type; I've had stronger battles against a bunch of puny Caterpie. You will never be a great fighter as long as I'm around or should I say the amount of time you have left when I'm done with you." Draco ranted. "I've always wanted the perfect challenge and you're obviously not."

Hariyama couldn't take any more. He charged at him with all the strength he had left and sent a barrage of Focus Punches his way. Draco easily dodged all of them without breaking a sweat. After about three minutes, he sent a multiple barrage of Dragon Claws and Thunder Punches right back at him.

During the onslaught, Zangoose couldn't help but watch in despair that his best friend is being beaten to a pulp by the unknown Pokémon. He wished he could help him, but the paralysis made it that much more difficult to do. After what seemed like an eternity, Draco finally stopped his attacks. Hariyama looked like a mess. He was badly bruised almost everywhere, had tons of nasty cuts that were bleeding very badly, and what's worse was the burn effect that made him yell in pain because they were burning his cuts.

Draco just stood there amused at his handy work. "I think it's time I wrap this up with my most powerful move. **FLARE BLITZ!"** His entire body was suddenly engulfed in a blazing fire. He then dashed forward and tackled Hariyama with unbelievable force. He was sent flying until he hit the ground painfully and was only a few feet from Zangoose. When the flame around Draco faded, he started to flinch and his body was sparking. "Man I hate that recoil damage effect."

Hariyama couldn't do anything anymore. He was in too much pain to battle any longer. He needed to warn the king about Draco being in the area, but he couldn't possibly make it to the castle in time, especially in the state he was in. He then remembered that Zangoose was here. It was possible that he could make it, despite the paralysis state he was in.

Hariyama turned towards Zangoose and whispered, "Zangoose, I need… you to do… something for… me." Zangoose only nodded. "I need… to get to… Poketopia… and warn the king about… Draco."

"But what about you?" Zangoose said worried about the outcome of his best friend.

"I'm not… going to… make it… buddy." Hariyama panted. "It's important… that you warn… the king at… all costs. Do you… understand?"

Zangoose didn't want to leave him behind, but he didn't want anything bad to happen to Poketopia either. After awhile, he reached his conclusion. "I'll do it." Hariyama nodded at his choice. Zangoose started to get up; trying to ignore the pain he was feeling from the paralysis. With all of his strength, he started to trudge away from the old trailer park until he was finally out of view.

Hariyama signed in relief, glad nothing bad was going to happen to him. He then heard someone walked behind him. He already knew who it was thought. "You know I could have stopped him from leaving and warning the king."

"So why didn't you?" Hariyama asked coldly.

"Because I doubt that he will be able to make it anyway. Besides, my mission is complete anyway. There just one more thing I need to do." Unfortunately, Hariyama knew exactly what he was talking about. So, he braced himself for the inevitable. "Dragon Claw." Draco raised his arm, his claws started to glow blue, and then…

Zangoose kept trudging along the rode, painfully. He then only stopped when he heard a loud scream.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Zangoose knew that scream came from Hariyama and it could only mean one thing; he was killed.

He ignored the tears that were coming down his face and proceeded to go on. He couldn't cry now. He had one mission he needed to complete: warn the king of Poketopia about Draco the Assassin.


	2. Poketopia Drama

It has been a glorious day for a certain city that was near the outskirts of the trailer park. There were happy, young Pokémon running around in the vacant streets. Adult Pokémon that have just finished their jobs for the day and were returning home so they could have dinner. There was also rarely any conflict here. Aw, yes. It has always been peaceful in the lush city known as Poketopia.

This city was one of the largest in all regions and had pretty much anything. There were a large variety of restaurants with some of the best food ever made. They had some of the finest and fanciest clothing stores that had amazing clothing for special events. There was also a huge mall where Pokémon can shop, eat, play, or just hang out with friends. The city even had day care centers and nurseries that helped take care of any lost children or younglings that couldn't be left home alone while their parents were at work. Basically, if you were a Pokémon, you wouldn't want to leave.

But, the most eye-catching out of everything is the giant, golden castle. The castle doors were as tall as a mini mart and as wide as three regular doors. There were at least ten windows on the front of it. There were also four towers connected to each of the corners of the building. From a birds eye view, the castle was not only shaped like a cube, but also had an outdoor garden on the roof.

Inside the castle, there were two Pokémon inside some sort of office. The one at the desk who was signing papers was yellow and had a white belly. It had a tail with black stripes at the end of its tail along with a red sphere on the tip of it. Its arms were long and look stubby. Its neck and rounded, oval-shaped ears had black stripes as well and had a small, red gem on its head. The Pokémon was a male Ampharos and had a crown on its head; this meant that he was the king.

The Pokémon beside him had a white lower half and was wearing a sleeveless tuxedo on his upper half. The front and back of it had a red blade looking thing sticking right out of it. The front of its face look like it had on a green helmet with a blue blade looking thing coming from the top. It had green arms and hands with extendable blades and was holding a rag. It was a male Gallade and judging by the uniform, he was the butler.

King Ampharos has just signed the last paper and put it in the finished pile. He leaned back in his chair and signed in relief. "Finally. That's what I get for doing something at the last minute. Jamison, can you put the papers in the deliver area for when the mailman arrives?" He asked the Gallade whose name was Jamison.

"Of course, your highness." Jamison replied with a bit of a British accent. He picks up the papers and left the room. Five minutes later, he comes back with a tray with tea and muffins on it. "I thought you may have been hungry. So I brought you something to enjoy."

"Thank you, Jamison. You have always been a big help." The king said as he began to eat his muffin and drink his tea.

"Sir, if I may be so bold, what were those papers you were signing?" He asks with curiosity.

The king swallowed his muffin and then explained, "Oh, just the usual. However, most of them did involve the new guard I hired to protect Amanda when she goes wander the city and stuff."

"Ah, yes. Your now fifteen year old daughter is old enough to go into town and hang out with her friends."

"But, she isn't old enough to go by herself. Mostly because of the assassins that have attack around the area and not because I don't really trust any boys I haven't meant being around her." He said really quietly on that last part.

Jamison chuckled at what he said. "You _really_ are protective over her."

"I have to be protective, Jamison. If anything ever happened to me, she would be next in line for the throne. That and she is my only child. If anything ever happened to her, the kingdom would collapse in agony and would be easily overthrown by the League of Assassins." He said with great concern for his kingdom and daughter's future.

Jamison put a reassuring hand on his boss's shoulder. "Relax sir. By the end of tomorrow, your daughter will be in good hands." This put a confident smile back on the king's face. Jamison did have an act for cheering people up.

Suddenly, the front door's doorbell was rung and there were multiple, but weak knocks afterwards. "I wonder who that could be." The king said confused.

"Well lets go find out shall we." Jamison said as he and the king left the office.

Due to the size of the castle, it took about two minutes to get from the office to the door. When they made it, Jamison proceeded to open the door. But what they saw on the other end shocked them both.

At the door, was a worn out, paralyzed, beaten up Zangoose. "Please… help… me." He said before lightning crackled in the background and then he fell and fainted on the ground.

The king and Jamison stood there in shock and silence. Finally, the king broke the silence, "Okay, I've got two questions." He said scared. "What happened to this Zangoose and why was there lightning in the sky when there is clearly no storm?"

Jamison sweat-dropped on that last question and then proceeded to pick up the unconscious Zangoose. "Sir, we need to get this Zangoose some medicine. I suggest we take him to the guest bedroom." King Ampharos nodded and they took their unconscious guest to the guest room.

About one hour after falling into an unconscious state, Zangoose woke up. He looked around to see that he was in a room. It appears to be some sort of guest room, completed with a desk, closet, bed, and a mini fridge. _Who puts a mini fridge in a guest room? _Zangoose thought.

"Well, I'm glad to see you awake, young fellow." Zangoose turned to see the voice came from an Ampharos. But not just any Ampharos; King Ampharos of Poketopia. Zangoose's eyes widened with both shock and delight at being in the kings' presents. "How are you feeling?"

Zangoose got over his daze and said, "Oh, I'm feeling fine, sir. Also, it's an honor that you took me into your lovely home, King Ampharos."

The king just waved it off. "It's quite alright. We seldom get any visitors around here." _Or anyone who look like they just got into a fight with a truck._

Jamison then walked in with a tray full of berries. "I heard the guest just woke up, so I thought I bring him something for dinner, sir."

Zangoose immediately grab the tray with no hesitation and began to devour all the berries. The king was laughing when he saw this. "Someone looks like they haven't eaten in hours." Zangoose only nodded and continued eating. "Zangoose, would you mine if we ask you something?"

Zangoose wiped his face of any crumbs and nodded once again. "Yeah, shoot."

"Okay, can you tell us what happened to you before you got here?" Zangoose just tensed up when he said that. This made the king and Jamison confused. "Was it something I said?"

Zangoose finally relaxed a bit. "No, it's… just been a long day. I don't want to bore you with details."

"We've got time." Jamison said

"Well, okay." Zangoose began telling everything that happened at the trailer park with surprisingly good detail. He sobbed a bit on some parts. When he finished, the king and Jamison started yelling out some of the parts in shock and very dramatically.

"Draco the Assassin?!" the king yelled

"You wandered here in a paralysis state?!" Jamison yelled as well

"Hariyama was killed?!" they both shouted in unison

Zangoose was slightly taken back by the screaming, but managed to regain his composure. "Unfortunately, yes."

The king started to go into a crazy, panic state. "This is bad. This is bad. **THIS IS BAD! **Not only is having that murderous assassin around here is bad, but without a bodyguard, Amanda can't go into town and I promised she could after tomorrow was over and the last guy who broke his promise to her had to dig a trench in the yard for hours. Of course, in retrospect, she was six years old that time but still, **WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?!" **Yeah, he's lost it.

Jamison grabbed both of his shoulders to try and calm him. "Your highness, you need to calm down." He said as soothingly as he can.

The king started to shake him like a madman. **"I AM CALM."** He screamed like crazy. Jamison had no choice but to slap him across the face. The king looked back at him baffled and said, "Do it again." Without hesitation, Jamison slapped him on the opposite side of his face. The king rubbed his cheeks to sooth the pain. "Thank you, Jamison."

"It was no trouble. Now what I suggest you do is go upstairs and tell your daughter the truth and do it like a man."

King Ampharos signed and said, "Your right as usual, Jamison." He then proceeded to walk down the hall and went up the stairs.

Jamison signed and turned around only to see a bewildered Zangoose. "What the heck just happened a minute ago?"

Jamison sweat-dropped and said, "He gets like that a lot when he finishes signing a ton of papers."

Inside her bedroom was a young teenage girl named Amanda. She was a pink sheep with a black striped tail and blue ball on the end. She had short, stubby hands and black striped, rounded ears. She also had wool on her head and around the neck. She was wearing a tiara symbolizing her royalty. As for species, she was classified as a Flaaffy.

Her room was like any other girls room, or at least it would be if they had a ton of money. Her walls were just a plain, bright pink color. The carpet was just white with a rainbow colored rug as well. She had a desk with a computer and headset. She had a wardrobe with dresses for special occasions with a mirror next to it. There was a large, circular bed in the room with purple blankets and light pink pillows. But, the best part of the room was the balcony that got a good look of the beautiful city.

What Amanda was currently doing was chatting with her friends on the computer through a webcam. The first one was a female sunflower that had legs. It was known as a Sunflora. The other one was a male spherical seal that was blue and white. It was known as a Spheal.

"I can't believe that in almost one day I can go to the mall with you guys." Amanda squealed with excitement.

"No kidding Amanda. Aren't you just as excited, Sphere?" the Sunflora ask the Spheal known as Sphere.

"Yeah, Flower. It would be a lot better than just having sleepovers every other night." Sphere said while clapping.

"So, what's your bodyguard like anyway?" Flower asked

"He's a Hariyama and is supposed to be really strong. That's what my dad told me."

"Are you sure?" Sphere asked with doubt. "Because in my opinion, your dad is a bit scatterbrained. I asked him a question about global warming, and then suddenly he starts acting like he doesn't know anything and screams stuff like, 'WHAT THE HECK IS GLOBAL WARMING'!"

"Sphere, I told you not to scream in the house." Said a voice from Sphere's side of the connection.

"Sorry mom." He yelled back. "But anyway, my point still stands."

Amanda was smiling nervously. "Yeah, I guess your right. I think I heard him scream a while ago."

"Yeah I've meaning to ask you about that. Why is your dad so uptight?" Flower asked rather suspiciously.

Amanda bit her lip as if trying to find the right words to say. "Well, you see…"

There was a knocking at her door. "Amanda, can I come in?" it was her father.

"One minute." She replied back. "Sorry guys, but I need to go."

"Oh, it's okay. We'll just chat later. Good-bye." Flower said as her screen shut off.

"Yeah, Bye-bye." Sphere said as he did the same.

Amanda turned around in her chair. "Okay, dad. You can come in now." The door opened and her father came in. He looked a little uneasy, but she was use to it. "So dad, was there a reason that you came?"

The king didn't know how to tell her. He didn't want to hear her scream or to see another couch in the yard, which again, happened when she was six. _Man she was destructive at that age._ The king thought. "Well, honey… you see… uh… a…"

"Oh dad." She interrupted. "When I go to the mall, I was thinking of getting you a gift for being such a great father, especially for being so busy."

"That's nice dear, but listen, your-"

"Question is what should I get you?"

"Honey, you can't-"

"Maybe I should get something for my bodyguard, too."

"But honey, your-"

"Hey, maybe I should get a-"

"**YOU CAN'T GO BECAUSE YOUR BODYGUARD WAS KILLED." **He yelled but covered his mouth with sudden realization. Amanda looked heart-broken at the sudden news.

"What?" she asked very distressed.

The king removed his hands from his mouth and explained, "About two hours ago, Hariyama was killed by Draco the Assassin. A friend of his, Zangoose, came here to tell us about. I'm sorry honey, but you can't go into the city until I get a new guard hired, which could take weeks."

Amanda still didn't like this. "But dad, this is unfair. You promised I could go."

"I said you can go with protection, not by yourself."

"But-"

"End of discussion." He proceeded to leave the room. Amanda couldn't believe what she just heard. In fact, at this point, she was boiling mad. So mad she said something that made her father stop in sadness.

"The only reason you limit my freedom is because of what happened to mom!"

The king couldn't take hearing that sentence. About twelve years ago, when Amanda was only a toddler, her mother was killed protecting her family and kingdom from assassins. It was the most devastating thing he witnessed and the mere mention of it brought him to tears.

Amanda suddenly realized her mistake. She ran over to her father and hugged him. "Dad, I'm sorry I said that. I know you hate being reminded of that."

The king then hugged back as well. "It's okay. I know you didn't really mean it."

"It's just that I was looking forward to wandering the city, even with a guard."

"Well I'm sorry, honey. But I just can't hire a guard in one day. I need someone trustworthy and strong enough to defend you"

A light bulb just went off in Amanda's head. "Hey dad, what if we had a tournament."

"Why?" he said rather confused at the thought.

"Think about it. If we have a tournament, that can decide who's the strongest. Plus sense you know all of the member's species in the League of Assassins; you can deny them access if they sneak in. So what do you say?"

The king pondered this for a while and made his decision with a smile. "Yes, that's an excellent idea. I'll have Exploud make the announcement right now."

"Wahoo, I can still go to town." Amanda said excitedly

"Now, why don't we get dessert?" Amanda nodded. They started to leave the room. "Oh, and by the way, what do you mean that I'm scatterbrained?" Amanda only laughed as they left.

What they didn't realize was the huge crow that was known as Honchkrow sitting near the balcony. It then flew away back to a dark, eerie forest.


	3. Special Mission

It was around night inside a dark and eerie forest. There was not one wandering soul walking through these spooky woods, except are old friend Draco. He has been walking for about an hour or so sense he got rid of any 'evidence'. He looked up to the sky to see an all too familiar crow.

_Honchkrow, huh. Inferno must have sent him to spy on something. Question is, what and why?___Draco pondered this for a while until he reached his destination.

It was a dark, evil looking castle that looked a little like the Poketopia castle, despite the fact it was black, had more menacing looking towers, radiated the sense of pure evil, and was in the middle of the woods.

Draco went up to the door and knocked a few times. After a couple of seconds, a slot opened to reveal a pair of eyes. They looked down at Draco and said, "What is the password?"

"Password? What password?" Draco said with a mixture of confusion and coldness.

"The password I just made up, Sherlock. Now, what is it?" it said with the same level of coldness.

Draco was starting to hate this guy now. "Either you open this door right now or I'm going to show you what color your guts are. What's your choice?" Draco could here the sound of a gulp behind the door and then the doors started to open. Draco chuckled as he entered. "Too easy."

He started to walk down a long hallway with many doors. He just kept walking until he found the door he was looking for. He opened it to find what looked like a throne room. It looked like a medieval death chamber mostly by the way it was decorated. Most guards are too afraid to come in, but Draco was the only one who didn't get scared nor had the urge to throw up.

On top of a really high throne was a particular Pokémon. He kind of looked like a bird man with talons, a short beak, and had white hair that was shaped like wings. He was known as a Blaziken and from a certain point of view, was really intimidating. He looked down at Draco with piercing blue eyes and as if on command, Draco bowed to the Blaziken.

"Lord Inferno, king of all assassins, leader of the League of Assassins, and mastered assassin himself, I have returned." Draco said in such a dignified manner.

Inferno waved his hand in a swaying motion and said, "You don't really have to do that every time you enter, but thank you anyway." Draco nodded and Inferno continued, "Now Draco, was the mission a success?"

Draco seemed to tense up at the mention of his name, but said, "First of all sir, the mission was a success. I managed to eliminate the Hariyama from existence."

"Good, good. Now what else were you going to say?" he mentioned when he heard the words 'first of all'.

Draco continued, "I would prefer it better if you use my real name instead of my alter ego name. It brings back… memories." He said a little upset about something from his past he didn't want to mention to anybody.

Inferno thought this over and said, "Very well. In that case, you can take off your uniform now… Jango." Draco, who is now known as Jango, started to take off his uniform (this would be considered strange if not for the fact that they're Pokémon). Revealed under the outfit was a lizard that was the color red, had a white belly, and a tail with a lit fire on it. This creature was considered a Charmeleon.

Jango looked up at the lord and said, "Well if there is nothing else sir, I think I'll be proceeding to my quarters." He then started to head off to his room.

"Actually, wait." Jango stopped to hear what his lord was going to say. "How would you like to join me for dinner? I need to talk to you about something important."

Jango's eyes widened with surprise. It was very rare for anyone to join Inferno for dinner, or anytime for that matter, unless they were being assigned to a very important job. Naturally, how could he say no? He bowed and said, "It would be an honor, my lord."

Inferno nodded and said, "Good. Now let's head over to the main dining room, shall we?"

They headed down the same hallway Jango entered earlier. They came up to a large door with the words "Master's dining room" printed on a gold plate. Inferno pushed open the doors to reveal a bright light that made Jango cover his eyes. When it dimmed down, he saw the most amazing thing he ever seen.

The dining room had a red interior with gold colored velvet hanging from it. The windows were almost as tall as the room. There was a fireplace in the background that was cooking a delectable looking soup. The table was about thirty feet long. _Why would he need a table this big if he's the only one that eats in here? _Jango then notice a bunch of chefs entering with tons of gourmet food. Jango licked his lips. _Never mind._

Inferno went to his seat and motioned Jango to sit as well. When he did, the chefs gave him a plate of chicken with a side of mashed potatoes, a bowl of berries, and a glass of root beer. Jango's stomach was practically starting a war at this rate.

Inferno laughed a bit. "Something tells me you don't normally eat like this." Jango nodded vigorously. "Well what are you waiting for? Dig in." Jango started eating faster than a Munchlax could. Inferno sweat-dropped at his table manners, but shook it off and began to eat.

Jango was so delighted that he got to eat like a king. Normally he, along with the other assassins, had to eat gruel. Of course, sense Jango was the best; he got special occasions to eat the ice cream they usually steal for their lord.

Then suddenly a thought occurred in Jango. "My lord, you said you had something important to talk about. What was it?"

Inferno swallowed his food and said, "Aw, yes. I almost completely forgot to tell you."

"Well, what is it?" Jango repeated

Inferno started to explain. "Well, you know why this league was created; to destroy the king of Poketopia. My ancestors have tried for many generations to kill the king so they could take over this pitiful region. Unfortunately, their numbers were just stronger than ours and pushed us back into this forest. Not one of our top operatives ever step foot into that kingdom and make it back alive.

"However, my grandfather told me of a perfect way to put that kingdom in its place." He said with honor.

"What did he tell you, my lord?" Jango asked sense he was not getting the point of this story.

"He told me that a king would eventually have to pass down the throne to the heir of the kingdom. But then, he asked me this, 'What happens when a king has no heir to give the throne to?' and the answer was all clear to me. With no heir, the kingdom will have no defense and will be in a state of panic."

"I still don't get what this has to do with me. Why would you tell me this and why did you have me kill that Hariyama in the first place?" Jango then started to take a drink of his root beer.

"Because dear boy, that Hariyama I had you kill was Princess Amanda's bodyguard." This sudden news caused Jango to do a spit take with his root beer.

"A bodyguard? A BODYGUARD?! What kind of special mission is that?" Jango now needed answers on his master's actions.

Inferno shook his head disappointedly. "Didn't you here one thing I said? Without a bodyguard, she is unprotected. And if she was out of the way…"

Jango started to piece the puzzle together and got a solution. "…than the kingdom would fall once their current leader was out of the way. Of course, that's brilliant. But I still don't get what this all has to do with me."

"Well, I got Intel from a Honchkrow spy that the king will be holding a tournament tomorrow due to the lost of their bodyguard for the Princess and the winner will become the new one. So I want you to enter it and win."

Jango now knew what his new mission is, but there was still one thing on his mind. "Why me?"

The lord laughed joyfully. "Lot's of reasons my boy. One, most of the league is consist of Honchkrow, Seviper, and Magmortar which would make things suspicious. Sense no one knows your Draco, you will blend in. Two, your fifteen years old, so you no one will suspect anything. So Jango, what do you say?"

Jango thought this over for a minute or two, then said, "Consider the mission complete." Inferno nodded at his answer.

"Very good. Now, I suggest you get some rest. You have a big day tomorrow."

"Of course. Good night, my lord." Jango then left the room to proceed to his quarters.

When he made it, he started to brush his teeth, use the bathroom, and headed to bed. _Just think, tomorrow I'm going to start the rise of the assassins. _He thought as he started to doze off. But before he went to sleep, he caught a glimpse of an Aztec looking bird outside his window. _What's a Xatu doing here?_

He got out of his bed and opened the window. "Hey, unless you want to be the roasted special for tomorrows lunch, I suggest you get out of here." Xatu looked like it didn't here him. "Hey, aren't you listening to me?" Nothing. "Hey stupid, I'm talking to you." Still nothing. "If you don't respond to me, I'm going to Flamethrower you until your good and-"

Suddenly, a flash of light came from the Mystic Pokémon and blinded Jango. Then, out of nowhere, he heard a voice in his head. _**You will go down a path, one that you never understood; only then will you gain something you lost from your childhood.**_ When the flash ended, Xatu was gone.

Jango just stood there, not knowing what just happened. "You will go down a path, one you never understood," he said to himself, "only then will you gain something you lost in your childhood. What does that even mean?" He was so confused on that thing Xatu said, but wondering why he meant by it. Jango just sighed and went to bed. "Maybe I'll just sleep on it." And with that he was out like a light.


	4. Tournament Time

It was a good morning in the beautiful city of Poketopia. There were thousands of Pokémon running through the streets heading towards the castle. Word got out quickly that there was going to be a tournament to decide a new bodyguard for Princess Amanda. There was even a stage that the participants were going to battle on.

Amanda and her father were going to watch from the outdoor terrace. They were both excited to witness battles that can determine who would be the best at defending Amanda. "Boy, dad. Everyone entering must be really strong if their willing to protect me." Amanda said gleefully.

"I just hope no hoodlums come and take the job. I don't want any one like that near my daughter." The king yelled while shaking a fist. Amanda chuckled nervously and continued to watch the crowd.

Near the city, a carriage being pulled by Rapidash has just stop at the edge of the forest. Exiting from it was Jango and judging by the look in his eye, he looks determined. Also in the carriage was Inferno, probably to see him off.

"Good luck, Jango. Do not fail me." He said

"When have I ever failed you, my lord?" Jango replied before he started to leave.

"Wait." Inferno said and Jango turned around. "This is an important mission so I'm just going to remind you of something. If you fail to complete your mission within a month, I will consider you a traitor because it shouldn't take you that long, either that or you could be possibly dead."

"Relax; I never break a promise, my lord. You can consider the mission at this rate complete." Jango said with a cocky attitude.

Inferno smirked at his determination. "Good. Now get going." Jango nodded and proceeded to the town with haste. When he was out of sight, the carriage turned around and headed back to the dark castle.

Jango has been wandering through the city for sometime now and he was amazed by how well the city is taken cared of. He wished he could go sight-seeing, but he had a mission that needed to be completed.

_Man, mom and dad were right about this place when they told me about it. I just wished they could have been here with me to witness it._ Jango then started to look a little saddened by the memory. He has never told anyone about what happened to his parents a long time ago. He would only tell someone he really trusted, which was no one.

His thoughts were interrupted when he finally found the sign up desk to enter the tournament and just in time, too. He walked over to the desk and the Pokémon running it was a Lilligant. "Hello young boy, how may I help you?" she said as if talking to a four year old.

Jango was a bit creep out by this. "OK, first of all, I'm a fifteen year old teen so don't talk to me like I'm still in diapers. Second of all, I'm here to sign up for the tournament."

Lilligant stared at him confused. "Don't you think you're a little young to enter this tournament?"

"Trust me; I can hold my own against anything, so I'll be fine. Now sign me up." Lilligant only shrugged.

"And what is your name?"

"Jango." She then signed him in.

"Well you're lucky. You took the final spot in the tournament. So please step this way to the waiting room so you can relax before and after your matches." Jango nodded and proceeded inside the waiting room which was actually just a huge tent.

The tent was full of strong and determined Pokémon that looked like they can easily win a fight. Jango was smiling very sinisterly at his competition. _Anyone of them could possibly be the perfect challenge I have been looking for. This mission just got a whole lot better. _Jango thought. He saw some bottles of water for the competitors and took one for later.

After twenty minutes of waiting, the TV in the tent flashed on and showed an Exploud who looked like the announcer. _"Hello ladies and gentlemen to the first ever bodyguard deciding tournament and for those watching this broadcast, I was not the one who named this tournament."_ This earned a laugh out of the crowd.

"_In this competition, contestants will battle in one-on-one matches in each round and the winner of the match will proceed on to the next round. Anyone who complains or throws some sort of tantrum about losing will be kick out of here by our castle guard, Hitmonlee, who is the kicking Pokémon by the way. Who ever can win the tournament will be gladly accepted as the royal bodyguard to Princess Amanda." _The screen then switched to Amanda waving to the crowd and the screen then switched back to Exploud.

"_Now, you all are probably kind of tired of me talking and my throat is getting kind of sore, so let's turn to the jumbo screen and see are battlers." _ The giant screen flashed on and sixty-four contestants were shown. _"Now let's have them randomly shuffled to see who will be fighting who." _The pictures of the contestants were than shuffled all around the board and finished, showing the match-ups. _"And the first match is between Rhyperior and Jango."_

Jango was surprised that he was going first in the match, but relaxed and smiled. "Might as well start off the tournament with a real battle."

"_So, will the contestants please come down and get ready to battle?" _Jango then left the tent and proceeded to the field.

On the opposite side of the field from Jango was a large rhino that was standing on its hind legs. It had large arms with holes in his hands, orange plating around the body, and a horn that acted as a drill. He stared at Jango mockingly.

Exploud started to speak, _"Rhyperior is a champion wrestler from the Sinnoh Region and has been undefeated ever sense. He came to Poketopia to relax but when he heard of the tournament here, he couldn't refuse a fight. Lets give him a hand."_ The crowd cheered in excitement.

"_And as for Jango, we have absolutely have no stats on this guy. The only thing we do know is that he is the same age as the princess. So, um, lets give him a hand."_ The crowd was dead silent which made Jango roll his eyes. _"O…K let the match begin!"_

Rhyperior started to walk towards Jango. "I'll go easy on you little man. Hurting you would probably ruin my reputation."

Again, Jango rolled his eyes. "I don't need your sympathy. What I do want is for you to come at me with everything you got. Now, are you ready?"

Rhyperior just shrugged. "I warned you. Hammer Arm!" His arm started to glow and then charged at Jango. He slammed his arm right on top of him, but when he lifted it back up, he was no longer there. "Where did he go?"

"Hey big, tall and ugly, I'm over here." Rhyperior turned to see an unharmed Jango about ten feet away.

Amanda was amazed by this. "He must have raised his speed very high if he was able to move that quick."

Exploud was at a lost for words, but managed to form some. _"I can't believe it folks but this newcomer has a few more surprises than we predicted."_

Rhyperior got over his shock and charged again. "Hammer Arm!" But, instead of dodging, Jango jumped on top of his arm before it could hit him. "You are getting on my nerves kid. Hammer arm." He used his other arm to hit Jango, but he dodged at the last minute to have Rhyperior hit his own arm. "Owww, this hurts."

Jango brushed himself off. "What did you expect it to feel like? Sense it's a Fighting-type move and you are a Rock-type, you took double the damage." He said with a smirk.

The king was just as amazed as his daughter. "Incredible. By using Rhyperior's own move to his advantage, he was able to deal him double the damage."

Rhyperior started to get mad. "Stone Edge." There was a flash and sharp rocks were formed and launched at Jango.

Jango then got crafty and started jumping off the rocks as they were in mid-air. He then lunged forward and his claws started to glow blue. "Dragon Claw." His attack sent Rhyperior flying near the edge of the stage.

He got up and proceeded to attack. "Hammer Arm."

But, once again, Jango got an idea to counter it. "Thunder Punch." His hand electrified and he started to dash forward.

Amanda gasped at what he was doing. "But doesn't he know that an Electric-type move will have no effect on a Ground-type like Rhyperior." Jango then leaped in the air and launched his attack straight to the ground. He then used his strength and managed to push the ground upward; making a large boulder hit Rhyperior.

"I'm not stupid enough to use a move that can't have an effect on a specific type. Anyway, Flamethrower." He fired a streak of fire from his mouth and hit Rhyperior directly. The attack didn't do much, but it still hurt him.

"You think your funny, kid? Well I hope you find this funny, Rock Wreaker!" He formed a giant rock with red energy around it and threw it at Jango.

Jango then leaped forward towards the rock, much to everyone's confusion. "Dragon Claw." He then threw his claws at the rock and it managed to stop instantly. After a few second of awe, the rock crumpled to nothing but pebbles.

Rhyperior was furious at this point. "That is it. I'm finishing this once and for all, Horn Drill." His horn started to glow and spun really fast.

Jango reacted quickly when he started to charge. "A move that will take me out in one shot. That is cowardly. Let me show you a real attack, Flare Blitz." He was then surrounded by blue fire and charged at Rhyperior's attack head on. There was an explosion that made everyone shield their eyes.

Both Jango and Rhyperior were facing each other and were both exhausted from battle. Jango took his recoil damage, but after that, Rhyperior fell on the ground and had swirls in his eyes. Exploud then came over. _"Rhyperior is unable to battle, the winner is Jango. So he will be entering the second round."_ Everyone was silent, but then cheered loudly for Jango. He wiped off some sweat and waved to the crowd before leaving.

Amanda was truly impressed by Jango's battle and wished to congratulate him, but she had to stay on the terrace and observe the battle. She got an idea and asked Jamison to come over. "Can you do me a favor, please?"

"Of course, mistress. What do you want me to do?" She whispered something into his ear and he nodded. "I'll get right on it." He left and Amanda continued to watch the next battle.

During match thirty-one, Jango was drinking his bottle of water. He was really satisfied of how his match went with Rhyperior, but he still didn't consider it the perfect battle. He just hopes he finds a worthy opponent soon.

Suddenly, he sees a shadow overwhelming his and turned around to see a Gallade standing behind him. "I'm sorry to disturb you sir. My name is Jamison, the royal butler to his highness. You are Jango, correct?"

Jango was overwhelmed for a second, but then replied, "Yes, I am. It's nice to meet you sir." He then shook Jamison's hand. "Not to be rude or anything, but what do you want?"

"Princess Amanda wanted to wish you luck in your next few matches. She wanted to tell you in person, but couldn't leave her terrace during the tournament."

"So, out of everyone here, she wished me luck?" Jamison nodded and Jango couldn't help but blush at the act of kindness. _Wait what am I doing. Focus_. He calmed himself and replied, "Well, uh, tell her I said thanks."

Jamison bowed. "Indeed sir. Well I should get- Oh no, not him again." Jango turned to see what he was staring at. On the TV screen was a cream-colored, skinny ferret with sharp claws and a brown arrow all the way up his back.

"Who is that?" Jango asked about the Pokémon who was currently fighting an Emboar.

"That is David, a Linoone from the Hoenn Region. Ever sense he came to the city, he developed an obvious crush on the princess. He has been sending love notes, serenading her on some occasions, and even broke into the house once. He's partly why our king is a bit edgy. He would do anything to get close to her. So I'm guessing…"

"…he entered this competition to become her guard." Jango finished

"Exactly. It would destroy the king if that hoodlum was to become the guard and do to time, he can't fire him." Jamison didn't look to happy about this guy either.

Jango looked back at the screen to see that David took out Emboar with a Water Pulse attack. He then shouted out to Amanda, _"Amanda, by heart burns for you like a thousand Blast Burns. When I win this tournament, we shall finally be together."_ It wasn't noticeable on the screen but Jango could see Amanda gagging in disgust and the king shouting things no child should ever hear.

Jango needed to win this tournament to start his mission, so he turned to Jamison and said, "Don't worry about David sir."

Jamison looked confused. "And why is that?"

Jango smiled a determined smile. "Because I'm going to make sure that he will never have a chance at winning this competition."

The competition started to get heated up now. During the next four rounds, Jango managed to take out Stoutland, Miltank, Camerupt, and Bronzong while David was able to take out Primeape, Forretress, Shiftry, and Darmanitan. It was now the final round between the two battlers.

Amanda was looking a little worried. "If Jango loses this battle, that means I'm going to be stuck with David as a guard; and knowing him, I don't think he is going to try and guard me." She shivered at the thought.

Her father didn't even have to be given a second opinion about him. "Well I have faith in the Charmeleon, only because I will have a heart attack if that filthy Linoone becomes the bodyguard." He then grabbed a bag out of nowhere and started to breath in and out repeatedly into it.

The crowd was cheering hard for the competitors. David looked at Jango very oddly. "Hey buddy, you want to make a deal?"

Jango looked interested. "What kind of deal?"

"Well, when I become Amanda's boyfriend and eventually her king, I will give you one million dollars for throwing in the match for making it possible."

Jango stared blankly for a second, then his lip started to quiver, and finally he burst into uncontrollable laughter. "Oh man, you have got to be kidding me."

David stared completely baffled. "What's so funny?"

Jango managed to calm himself a bit and answered, "Dude, I've only been here for one day and I know that she would rather date a cactus then you. Of course, now that I think about it, the cactus would be more romantic than you." This earned a bunch of 'ooohs' and laughs from the crowd.

Amanda was laughing hysterically. Even her father couldn't control himself. "I'm starting to like this Jango fellow already."

David was really angry now. "That's it, wise guy. Your in for a world of hurt for disgracing my honor." He said as he got into a battle stance.

"Sense when you had any honor?" he asked cruelly as got into his stance as well. David just grumbled as the battle was about to begin.

Exploud came over to start the match. _"This is the final battle, between Jango and David. So let the battle begin."_

David started to move with quick feet. "Slash." His claws started to glow brightly.

"Dragon Claw." Jango came at him with his glowing blue claws.

The two attacks collided with each other and they both had their backs to each other. Jango felt a slight pain on his cheek and realized he was cut. "He managed to land a hit on me. That never happens." Oddly enough, he smiled. "This match just got a whole lot more interesting."

"Water Pulse." David formed an orb of water and threw it at Jango. He managed to dodge in time, but David wasn't finished. "Thunderbolt." His body released a streak of lightning at Jango.

Jango had to think fast. "Flamethrower." The fire attack managed to counter the electric one. Jango just stood there, gesturing David to attack. "Come on, hit me. I dare you."

David did as he wanted. "Double-Edge." He dashed forward with a yellow streak following him. He managed to score a direct hit on Jango. He was sent flying almost off the edge of the stage. David flinched a bit due to the recoil damage from the Double-Edge. "You should have taken my deal when you had the chance. Slash." He started to attack again.

Jango managed to get up and counter the attack with Dragon Claw. "Sorry bucko, but I don't take deals from dirty rats." He pushed him back and landed a clean hit in his stomach. "Thunder Punch." This attack hit him in the head, but he was able to take the blow.

"Water Pulse." David threw the water orb and trapped Jango inside it. He was struggling hard to break out, mostly because Water-type attacks deal major damage to Fire-types. The orb eventually burst open and Jango got out, but he didn't look to well. "Hahaha, you are pathetic, you overgrown gecko. My love for the princess makes me stronger then the average Pokémon; where in this case, makes you weak. You should have quit while you were ahead. Now I'm going to finish you off, multiple Slash attacks."

Jango was slashed, left and right, with no stopping what so ever. Everyone was horrified by the scene that was taking place before them. The king and Amanda were terrified for Jango and his well-being. Now they really didn't want David to be the guard.

He finally stopped his attacks and Jango fell to the ground with a ton of cuts on him. "All right, I won the tournament. Announcer, make it official while I go find my princess." He started to leave the stage.

Exploud didn't want him to win, but he had no choice. _"Jango… is unable to bat- wait a minute!"_ He said all of a sudden. David turned to see what was the problem and what he saw scared him witless.

Jango was surrounded by a red aura. His eyes were bright red and his tail flame was suddenly five times larger than normal. He was grinning evilly at David. "You fool, you fell for my trap."

"Wha…what t-t-trap." He stuttered.

"I knew you were going to be a difficult opponent, so I let you take me a crack at me just so you can activate my ability…Blaze."

David knew he would have stronger Fire-type moves now, but at the same time was immensely weak so he had to work fast. "Thunderbolt." The attack was sent flying at Jango, but he had a trick up his sleeve.

"Flamethrower." Instead of a streak of fire, he launched a blast of fiery energy which overwhelmed the Thunderbolt and singed David with unimaginable pain.

David tried to fight back. "Water Pulse." The orb came at Jango fast

"Thunder Punch." The punch was able to obliterate the Water Pulse into nothing. "Dragon Claw." He then slashed back at David with the same amount of pain that he took.

David felt a little wobbly, but he kept standing. "That is it. I'm going to finish you off once and for all."

Jango agreed as well. "Then let's end this."

"Double-Edge."

"Flare Blitz."

The both rushed at each other and collided. They both were at a stalemate for a few seconds, glaring at each other, then the attacks created the biggest explosion that happened today.

When the smoke cleared, the two were both exhausted and beaten, while taking the recoil damage. Jango was able to turn back to normal after all of that. They stared at each other for a couple minutes before finally David falls over on the ground with swirls in his eyes. _"David is unable to battle, the winner of the tournament is Jango."_

Everyone exploded in cheers as Jango sat on the ground to take a breather. David's unconscious body was carried and kicked out by Hitmonlee. Jango was satisfied that he won the tournament and fighting David, who he didn't consider the ultimate challenge despite his battling. He looked up to see that the king and Amanda were clapping for his victory. Now that he won, the real battle was about to begin.


	5. Getting Settled

Jango was inside the king's office so he could get ready for the interview part of the job. Luckily he has been practicing on what to say so that he will throw off any suspicion of him being an assassin. The princess was standing next to her father, looking very excited and in Jango's opinion, kind of cute. _Wait a minute, cute? What am I thinking? Just stay focus and complete the mission._

The king had just finished filing some papers and looked at Jango. "Alright. Let's get started, shall we. So, what is your name?" he asked either though he already knew.

"Jango, sir." He said as formal as he could. Amanda giggled a bit which caught his attention. "Something funny about my name?"

Amanda just waved it off. "No, it's just that your name is a little unusual. I never even heard of it before."

"Well actually where I come from, the Pokémon are named to symbolize something."

"Where are you from, anyway?"

"I'm from the Fire Lizard Valley."

This caught the kings attention when mention. "Fire Lizard Valley? That's a long ways from here you know. You must have traveled a great distance." _You don't know the half of it._ Jango though.

Amanda just realized something. "Hey Jango, you said your name symbolizes something. What does it mean?"

Jango tried to remember, and then got it. "Well, my parents always told me that my name means the spirit of adventure. They always said I was a handful, always disappearing, making a mess, and even wreaked my dad's truck once." They all laughed at the shared memory.

The king stopped laughing and resumed, "Well, aren't you a little worried that your parents might be upset for you being so far away?" This caused Jango's expression to go from amusing to depress.

Amanda noticed this and put a hand of comfort on his shoulder. "Hey, are you alright Jango? Did we upset you?" She wanted to know what was troubling him, but it would have been better if he admitted without being badgered.

He shook out of his daze and managed to smile weakly. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just don't want to talk about my parents is all. You can understand right?"

She nodded and the king continued, "Well, in that case, I'm assuming you have no where to live." Jango shook his head. "Well, we have many guest rooms. I'll just put you in the one near Amanda's room. That okay with you?"

"Yes, it will be fine, sir." _Perfect, now I'll be close enough to get rid of the princess. And sense she has a terrace from what Honchkrow said; it will make an easy escape. _Jango thought in his head.

"Okay, now I just need you to sign these papers and we can-"Before he could finish, Zangoose came in through the door with a towel around his neck. When Jango saw him, he instantly knew who it was, the same Zangoose from the trailer park._ Oh no, I thought I got rid of him. Wait, he was just in paralysis, but how did he manage to trudge here anyway? Ergh, note to self, add a second Thunder Punch to an escaping foe who is paralyzed. _

"Excuse me, your highness. I'm sorry to interrupt, but where is the shower? I haven't exactly taken one in awhile."

The king signed. "The shower is down the fifth corridor from your right."

Zangoose saluted, which was totally unnecessary. "Thank you, sir. Well I should get- huh, well I obviously haven't met you." He said referring to the unnoticeable frighten Jango. Zangoose stuck out his paw. "It is nice to meet you, young man."

Jango hesitated, worried that the ferret might somehow recognize him. However, not wanting to act suspicious, he gladly shook his paw. "Hi, my name is Jango. It is nice to meet you."

They eventually separated. "Well I must say, you did an excellent job at mopping the floor with that Linoone."

"I agree." The king said after. "That creep has been causing me trouble ever sense he got here, and by me, I mean Amanda, and by trouble, I mean constantly not getting the phrase **'STAY AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER AND MY PROPERTY!'** or something like that."

Everyone sweat-dropped at his 'emphasis for trouble'. Then after a long silence, Zangoose finally spoke up. "Anyway, I'm heading to the showers. See ya later, kid." Jango just waved and Zangoose was gone.

Then, a question appeared in Jango's head. "Sir, how come that Zangoose was here? If my memory serves, you, your daughter, and your butler, Jamison, are the only ones who live here."

"You see, after his neighborhood was attacked by an assassin named Draco, we decided to let him live here until things cool down." The king explained.

"Okay, I see." _Great, now someone who can possibly figure out who I am is now considered my neighbor. This day just keeps getting better and better._ "So, should we be getting back to the interview?"

"Of course. Now, did you learn your fighting skills on your own or did you go to some type of school?"

Jango did not no how to respond to that. He did his training at the Assassin Trainer Camp. If he said he did train at a school, the king would ask where and there was no way he could cover that. So he went with the more safe choice. "I've actually done the training myself. I tend to wander the open areas to either train or just explore."

"Very impressive. Well, the application you signed earlier gave us enough information about you, so you can leave."

Jango was confused. "But you only asked me like two or three questions."

"Yes, but I'm a little tired from today, that and if you can take out that filthy vermin known as David, I trust you already. Anyway I'm taking a nap. See you all at dinner." He left his office and the only ones left were Jango and Amanda.

"That must be the shortest and strangest interview I ever had, and that one was my first."

Amanda giggled a little. "Yeah, my dad is so busy that we never get to hang out as often. He either is doing work, having conferences about his work, or sleeping because of work." They both laughed lightly.

Jango then started to get up. "Well I should be getting to my new room now." He started to leave then realized something. "Uh, how do I get to my new room exactly?"

Amanda rolled her eyes jokingly and started to follow. "How bout I give you a tour of the building so you don't get lost." Jango nodded at the idea. "Great, let's go."

They walked down a few corridors and came across a room. They opened it to find shelves with what looked like DVD's on them. Jango was awestruck by the sight. "Whoa, where are we?"

"This is the movie room. My dad bought these to watch for movie nights or when my friends come over."

"Wow, that's so cool." He said while looking at the movies. One in particular caught his eye. When he looked closer, his eyes widened. "No way, you have Pokémon Ninja Showdown. This was my favorite movie when I was a kid. They stop making them a long time ago because it didn't get many sellers."

"Yeah, I begged my dad to get it for my birthday a few years ago. It was the only old movie I ever liked. My favorite part was when that Sawk jumped off the train when it was going at crazy speeds."

"Hey, that's my favorite part, too." For some reason they both blushed a bit, but Jango's red skin kept his from being noticed. "Uh, shall we continue with the tour?"

Amanda seemed dazed, but eventually snapped out of it. "Huh, what? Oh, yeah. Let's go."

For a few hours they both went to different rooms around the castle. They visited the kitchen, the dining room, the greenhouse, and so much more. Their last stop before the bedrooms was the outdoor garden on the roof. It had flower patches all around the area. There were benches that had a lustrous shine to it. There was a fountain with a stone statue of King Ampharos right on top of it. It even had a brilliant view of the city. It was as if the world was at peace.

"It's amazing up here." Jango said wildly impressed.

"I know. I come up here every so often when I'm upset or just want to clear my thoughts. The beauty of this world never ceases to amaze me. Out of every single room in this castle, this is by far my favorite." Amanda said peacefully.

"I know what you mean, this is something that just can't be replaced." Jango then noticed that Amanda was close to the edge of the garden. _If I push her over, I can complete the mission. All I have to do is shove her over._ He proceeded to get behind her without acting suspicious.

He got in to a position to get ready to end her. But something for some reason stopped him from doing it. He didn't no what or why. He kept telling himself to just do it, but he wouldn't. He was struggling to complete the task already.

He eventually just gave up. He looked at the wall clock and saw what time it was. "Hey Amanda, I think it's time for dinner."

Amanda turned around and smiled. "Great because I'm starving."

They headed down the stairs to get some food while one thing kept rattling in Jango's mind. _Why didn't I push her?_

After dinner, Amanda showed Jango to his room. It was like the one Zangoose was living in, it just had a window. "See you in the morning. Make sure to wake me up. I want to go to the mall real early."

Jango nodded. "Okay, I promise. Night, Amanda."

"Good night, Jango."

They each went in to their respective rooms. When Jango was inside, he started to bang his head on the wall. "I don't get it." He whispered very irritated. "I had a clear shot of getting rid of her and I blew away that opportunity. Why didn't I just do it?"

"You speak like you are troubled, young one."

Jango turned around frantically to see an all too familiar Xatu. Jango suddenly realized something. "Listen, fish breath, if you give away my cover, you will feel my wrath."

"Big talk from such a weak and confused creature." Jango lunged at him with a Thunder Punch, but Xatu managed to dodge in time. Jango tried again and again and again and… well you get picture. He was eventually was worn out from missing so many times. "You bonehead, I can see the past _and_ future. You can't touch me."

"What do you want and what was with the last time you came?"

"I'm the time keeper, Chromo. I watch the time stream to make sure things go as plan. You have upset the balance of the time stream."

"Now how can I do that?"

"I've seen two futures, one with peace and the other full of doom. It's because of you that it's undetermined. That is why I told you that riddle the last time we met. You need to find the right path to take. You will then find something you lost."

"Well news flash bird, but I never lost anything in my life. So I guess you came all the way here for nothing." Jango turned around and crossed his arms.

"Don't act like I don't know. I know why you joined the assassins in the first place and why you refused to eliminate the princess." Jango turned around shocked. "I'll be watching you very closely to make sure you make the right decision. Farewell." With that, Chromo disappeared.

Jango was horrified. He didn't want anyone to none his true motives for joining the assassins or that he was an assassin. He had to make sure that Chromo stays out of his way and to make sure to complete his mission. He decided to just go to bed and think of away to get rid of Amanda in the morning. He just wondered what Chromo meant when he said he knows why he refused to get rid of Amanda.


	6. To the Mall

Jango woke up to a beam of light that hit his face. It was around seven in the morning. Jango got up, made his bed, brushed his teeth, and left his bedroom. Today he started his new job and sense he had to spend his time with Amanda in public; he couldn't do anything for the portion of the day.

He entered her room to see that she was still sleeping. He went over to her and was about to wake her up when a thought crossed his mind. _She's vulnerable right now. I can suffocate or choke her and complete the mission._ He grabbed a free pillow and prepared to suffocate her. He was about to do it when she suddenly rolled over which made Jango freeze up. She was still asleep. Jango signed and took a close look at her._ Wow, she looks so peaceful when she sleeps. Ergh, I can't kill her, yet. Maybe I should at least let her live and have fun at the mall._

With his mind made up, he dropped the pillow and proceeded to shake her awake. Almost instantly, she fluttered her eyes open and sat up with a yawn. "Good morning, Jango." She said sleepy.

"Good morning, Amanda. How did you sleep?"

"Alright I guess. What about you?"

Jango recapped to the previous events that happened to him last night with Chromo. "Uh, it was…interesting."

Amanda was a little confused by the hesitation, but was too tired to care. "So, you want to grab some breakfast before we head to the mall."

"Sure, why not." They both left to the dining room to see if breakfast was ready. "Hey Amanda, what exactly is the mall like here? I past by it once and it was huge."

She giggled and said, "Let's just keep that a secret until we get there." Jango rolled his eyes jokingly and they continued to the dining room.

After they finished their breakfast, the two teens started to walk to the mall. It was still early in the morning so not a lot of Pokémon were awake yet, which will make it faster for them to get to their destination. Jango was still curious about what was so great about this mall that it had to be kept a secret from him.

"This is going to be great. It's been year's sense I went to the mall. I'm going to buy some new dresses sense my old ones are so…old." Amanda said elated. "What are you going to do at the mall, Jango?"

"I don't know, mostly because _someone_ in particular _didn't_ tell me what is even at the mall." Amanda blushed in embarrassment.

"Oops, I forgot. But still, it is one of the best malls in this region."

"Then why can't you tell me?"

"The truth is that the mall is a bit indescribable. It would take me a day to try and explain it to you."

Jango shrugged. "Eh, whatever. I just hope it is as great as you say it is."

"Trust me, you will be awestruck." Amanda said in a teasing tone. Jango chuckled and they walked for about fifteen minutes, talking about funny things that happened in their childhood, and they finally reached the mall.

The exterior of it was white with a few strands of blue and red. It was half as tall as the castle yet it was twice as wide. With the condition it was in, it looked like it just opened.

"Oh yeah, I amazed alright." Jango said sarcastically.

"Maybe you should step inside before you start judging it." Amanda countered. Jango shrugged and went in through the automatic doors. Once he got inside, he literally just had his breath taken away.

The mall on the inside looked like it was larger than the outside. All around the area were mini shopping center, food stands, arcades, and so much more. The entire place was so clean you could eat off the floor (of course the locals would rather use a plate). Just about anything Jango could think of was right in front of him. _Amanda was right, this place is indescribable._

Amanda walked by to his side. "Speechless, I see." Jango rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "A lot of people who come here for the first time have that same reaction."

"Well I'll admit, this is a first for me. This was the first time I ever even been to a mall, mostly because I've never had anyone to-"Jango slapped his hand right over his mouth. He just almost revealed his secret past to Amanda and unfortunately, she heard.

"Wait, what do you mean you never been to a mall before? Haven't your parents ever taken you to one before?" Amanda asked concerned. Jango didn't know how to respond. He never wanted anyone to find out. If someone did, it would draw up much concern and possibly a connection to his assassin life.

"Uh…I…well…you see…um," Jango mumbled out. He was trying to find a way to divert the question._ Oh Arceus, please help me._

"Hey Amanda." Two voices shouted out to their direction. They both turned to see a Sunflora and Spheal coming in their way. Amanda instantly became excited and ran over to them.

"Flower, Sphere, it's great to see you." She said cheerfully. Jango signed in relief at the sudden save. He really didn't want to tell someone he just met his past secret. After that he walked over to Amanda and her friends.

The three friends hugged each other then broke away afterwards. "I'm so glad that you were actually able to come to the mall." Flower said delighted.

"I know, it's been ages sense we last saw you in person." Sphere said. Amanda and Flower looked at him like he grew a second head.

"Dude, I invited you to a sleepover last week. It hasn't been that long." Amanda said.

"Yeah, but my point still stands." He exclaimed. The three then laughed whole-heartedly.

"Did I miss something here?" the three turned around to see Jango standing right there.

"Uh, Amanda, who is this guy?" Sphere asked.

"Oh, sorry about that. Flower, Sphere this is my new bodyguard Jango, Jango, this is Flower and Sphere, my best friends." Amanda introduced.

"Hi there Jango, it's a pleasure to meet you." Flower said while she stuck out her 'leaf' to shake which Jango accepted.

"Awesome, Pokémon of your species aren't from around here that often," Sphere exclaimed which Jango took as a compliment, "but aren't you a little young though?"

Jango signed. "I get that one a lot all the time."

"Anyway, we were thinking that we should hit the game rooms first then break for lunch. Then after that we should go shopping." Flower exclaimed.

"Why do you always suggest shopping? After all I'm a guy." Sphere reminded.

"Well you just don't know what girls are like."

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"In means I'm better than you."

"No your not."

"Yes I am."

"No."

"Yes."

Sphere and Flower kept yelling back and forth at each other obviously not giving up. Jango looked at this with awkwardness and whispered to Amanda, "Are they always like this?"

"They do this at least twice a week." She whispered back. After two or three more minutes, Amanda decided to break up the fight. "Okay guys, that's enough. Remember why we're here, to celebrate me being able to hang out with you two."

"Yeah you're right." They said in unison.

"Then lets hit the game room." They cheered and proceeded to the game room. Amanda turned to Jango. "You want to play some games too?"

Jango shook his head. "Nah, you three have fun yourselves. I'll just keep watch to protect you." Jango thinks she wasn't satisfied with that answer, because she suddenly started to drag him along. "What are you-"

"Just because you have a job to do," she interrupted, "doesn't mean you can't have fun. Now come on." Jango wanted to protest but obviously didn't have a choice.

They finally reached the game room. It was full of tons of arcade games that were either new or weren't even made anymore. There was a ski ball machine, a dance machine, and the best part, a ticket counter. The entire room was all neon looking like they were in the future or something.

Jango was easily impressed by this place. "Okay, maybe I can play a bit."

Amanda jumped in excitement. "Good, because I have the perfect game to start off with." She, again, dragged Jango somewhere. They also passed by Flower, who was playing a farming game, and Sphere, who was playing a virtual dodge ball game. _Who ever made these games was weird or ran out of ideas._ Jango thought.

Amanda finally brought Jango to the chosen game. It was blue with shining stars on it. The front had a spaceship that looked like it was the wars secret weapon. There were two screens on each side of it, meaning it was a two player. "This is Galaxy Conqueror. In this, you have to destroy your opponent's spaceship so you can win twenty tickets. Up for a challenge or you scared to be beaten by a girl?"

Jango was surprised that she, for a princess, can be so tuff. But that didn't stop Jango from smiling. "Bring. It. On."

They both put a quarter into the machine and the game started. They started pressing buttons and tried to destroy each others spaceship. Jango managed to land a few hits, but was suddenly overwhelmed by Amanda as she typed in some sort of combo. Next thing Jango knew, his ship was annihilated from the screen. The screen started flashing 'PLAYER ONE WINS', which was Amanda, and she got twenty tickets while Jango only got five.

"No fair. This was my first time and you typed in some sort combo." Jango ranted jokingly.

"Hey, I never said I go easy on you. How does it feel to lose?" She mocked in his face.

Jango smiled with determination and said, "Oh, you are so going down." Amanda accepted the challenge and they both put in a quarter. The same play out happened like last time, except this time Jango typed in the same combo Amanda used and won the game with the machine saying 'PLAYER TWO WINS'.

As he collected his tickets, Amanda looked dumbfounded. "How did you-"

Jango tapped a claw on his head. "Photographic memory. Did I forget to mention that?" He teased.

Amanda wasn't going down that easy. "Okay wise guy, best two out of three." Jango nodded and they started to play again.

They played about twenty times, each time with a new winner. They were exhausted, which is a bit odd from playing a video game. They each had two hundred and fifty tickets. They looked at each other and started laughing. "Okay, it's obvious we can't decide a winner so lets stop." Jango offered through his laughing.

"Agree." Amanda said through laughter.

"Man, I thought you two would never stop playing." They turned to see Flower with Sphere behind her.

Jango and Amanda were shocked. "How long have you been watching us?" Jango asked slightly nervous.

"Awhile. Now come on, there are more games in here you know." Sphere reminded and went off with Flower. Jango and Amanda got over their shock and decided to take their advice.

Jango and Sphere were currently in the middle of a dance battle on the Dance, Dance, Pokelution game and it was spitting out tickets like crazy. Jango seemed to get the steps down well and Sphere was able to get a good score, despite being in the shape of a ball.

Amanda and Flower were playing the ski ball machine. They were getting tons of tickets from their high scores. Flower wasn't doing as well though because her hands were leaves, but still managed good scores. Amanda has never played before, so she didn't get that many good shots.

About two hours later, they started to turn in their tickets for some cool prizes. They then headed over to the food pavilion. On their way, they started to share what they got.

"Check out this Miracle Seed I got." Flower said showing the little seed to everyone. They awed at the magic seed. "Now my Grass-type moves will be even stronger."

"Oh yeah. Check out my Never Melt Ice. This can boost my Ice-Type moves just as much." Sphere bragged.

"Well I got a bottle of Fluff Moisturizer. The guy at the counter said it can make my wool fluffy and shiny." Amanda said showing the pink bottle.

"Well how about you check out my gemstone necklace." The three looked at Jango to see a blue gem with the letter 'J' on it. "For two thousand tickets you can get this. I think it looks good on me."

"Impressive." Amanda complimented. They finally reached the food pavilion. Jango, Amanda, and Sphere ordered two hot dogs with an Oran berry shake while Flower ordered a salad (Vegetarian) with a Cheri berry shake. They went to a seat and began to eat.

Everyone was enjoying their food and shakes, except Flower because her mouth was burning from the shake. "I thought Cheri berries were sweet, not spicy."

"I'll take the drink if you don't want it." Jango offered. Flower nodded and slid the drink to him.

Amanda was about to take another bite of her hotdog when she just realized something. "Hey guys, what exactly are these hot dogs made of anyway?" Jango and Sphere stopped in mid-bite and stared cautiously at the food.

"I think its better that we leave that a mystery." Sphere suggested and no one hesitated in agreeing. They continued to eat their food until a familiar figure appeared next to them. It was the slime ball known as David.

"Well if it isn't the _lovely_ Amanda and the freak show known as Jango." David said in a cruel tone on the last part. Flower and Sphere were offended that he didn't mention them.

"You're calling me a freak show? Have you looked in the mirror recently?" Jango asked humorously.

"What are you talking about?" David grabbed a hand mirror out of nowhere and realized that he had black scribbles on his face. He went into a hysterical fit. "Ergh, that's the last time I give my little brother Zach a marker while I'm asleep. Why did I agree to even babysit him?"

"Hate to ruin your freak-out and all, but what do you want?" Jango asked impatiently.

David composed himself and said coldly, "Listen bucko, you may have the job, but I'll find a way to get to Amanda and make her go out with me."

"There is no way that I'll ever date you, David. So just go." Amanda pleaded.

"There is nothing on this planet that is going to make me move from this spot." David stated and planted his feet firmly on the ground.

Jango looked over his shoulder and smiled. "Not even the wrath of your mother when she finds out your brother is running around a store while you're not watching him."

David turned in confusion to see that a young Zigzagoon was running around the store without supervision. "Zach, you come here this-"

Before he finished, Jango grabbed the top of his mouth and poured the Cheri berry shake into it. David's mouth started burning like crazy. "I'm sorry, was that too much?"

David was getting angry now. "That's it. I'm going to-"when he turned around, Jango was gone. "Where did he go?" Amanda, Flower, and Sphere pointed behind him and when he turned, he saw Jango talking to his brother.

"Okay, little guy, for each time you hit your brother with this bat," he raised up a metal bat, "I'll give you a piece of candy."

"Really?" the young Zach asked. Jango nodded. Zach grabbed the bat and chased after his brother. "I WANT CANDY!"

"Zach, stop. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHH!" He started to scream and run away like a little girl.

Jango went to his seat to see his friends laughing like crazy. "I had to get rid of him somehow. Anyway, let's finish are meal." They agreed and continued to eat while listening to the sound of a screaming teen runaway from a toddler wielding a blunt instrument.


	7. Secrets

After everyone was finish eating, they decided to check out some other parts of the mall. They were still chuckling after watching David being pummeled by his younger brother for twenty minutes straight and like Jango promised, he gave the little tyke candy. As for David, he had to be taken to a doctor because he was hit in places you shouldn't be hit in.

The rest of the day went smoothly, however. They all went bowling for awhile and Sphere won. His friends still thought it was cheating to use your self as the ball.

They then went to see a movie called "Pokémon in Love" which the girls picked. Jango and Sphere were asleep for most of it while the girls were crying from all the drama and for a strange reason; the seats had tissues built into them.

Later, they went to a laser tag competition. Jango and Amanda were on one team while Sphere and Flower were on the other. They managed to knock out everyone fairly easy and it was just against them. Sphere and Flower would have won, but they started to get into another 'Who's better' fight, making it the perfect distraction for Jango and Amanda to win.

After that it was getting late and they decided to go home. Sphere and Flower said goodbye and left to their respected homes. Jango and Amanda were walking for about twenty minutes talking about their fun day.

"So Jango, did you have fun?" Amanda asked.

"I'll admit that was the most fun I had in awhile. It almost makes up for the childhood I had." Jango said. When he said that, however, Amanda suddenly remembers something.

"Hey Jango, back at the mall, what did you mean when you said your parents never took you to a mall before?" This instantly caused Jango to freeze up in shock. He was really hoping she forgot about that.

He put on a nervous smile and started stuttering, "W-w-w-why would you w-w-want to know that. Lot's of kids probably never been to a m-m-mall before."

"Yeah but from the way you said it, it was almost like you never done anything with your parents together." Jango was starting to sweat, which is sometimes uncommon for a Fire-type. "Is there something your hiding from me?"

Jango just signed. "Look, Amanda, you are a sweet girl and all, but if I tell you, it would bring back some bad memories from the past. Let's just say I did something awhile back that was the main reason that I'm here."

Amanda still looked a little unsure. "But Jango, doesn't it bother you?" Jango nodded. "Then would it just be easier to tell someone so you can get it off your chest?"

Jango took a deep breath and said, "I know it would be easier to try and get it off my chest or something like that, but I'd only tell someone I truly trust and respect. Do you understand?" he finished.

Amanda hesitated a bit trying to comprehend everything he said and eventually responded. "Okay, I understand. But if you ever want to talk about it, just come to me." Jango blushed at the kind offer and nodded.

"Thanks Amanda. You are a good friend." This time, Amanda blushed and hid her face. They then walked in silence the rest of the way.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX

Everyone who was living in the castle was enjoying a nice bowl of chicken noodle soup. It was still piping hot which made everyone, except Jango (Fire-type, duh), yelp from the burn. Other then that, it was a rather quiet evening.

Getting bored from the silence, Ampharos tried to start a conversation. "So kids, how was the mall today?"

"It was one of the best times of my life." Amanda exclaimed happily.

"The highlight of my day was watching David get whack senselessly with a steel bat that I gave to his younger brother." Jango said causally.

Ampharos was dumbfounded by this, but regained his composure, then leaned towards Jamison and said, "Remind me later to give him a bonus on his paycheck." Jamison chuckled softly and continued to eat his soup.

"Anyway," Zangoose started, "sense I will be staying here for awhile, I managed to get a job at the local fruit market. I have to pay rent, luckily it isn't that much."

"Well it would be unfair to charge a large amount. Otherwise we would rarely get any visitors." Ampharos said. "So sweetie, what are you going to do tomorrow?" he asked Amanda.

"Well I was thinking of heading back to the orphanage." The word 'orphanage' made Jango suddenly lose his appetite. That word always brought back some bad memories. Then another thought came to him.

"Why would you go to an orphanage?"

"You see, before assassin crime rates rose, I volunteered at a local orphanage to help kids learn and even play with them. It's been about a year sense I was last there."

"Wow, you are sweet _and_ generous. Anything else I should know about." Amanda blushed a little and continued to eat her soup.

While they were eating, Jango just stared down at his soup. _Out of all the places she could have taken me, she had to choose my least favorite one. It's been six years sense I was there._

_FLASHBACK_

_Inside a quiet old orphanage, a smaller looking Jango, in his pre-evolution form, Charmander, was running down a hallway chasing a Seedot and a Trapinch. The Trapinch was caring a picture of Jango and two large dragons called Charizard._

"_Gimme back my picture of my family!" Jango yelled while tears ran down his face._

"_What are you going to do about it?" the Seedot asked in a harsh and mocking tone. "You're just a little weakling. I easily beat you in a fight, and I have a type disadvantage. Besides, you are just another thing on this planet that should be thrown into the Distortion World."_

"_Yeah, you're just a waste of space." The Trapinch said, although it was hard to understand with the picture in his mouth._

_Jango wiped his face. "I don't care. I just want my picture back."_

_Seedot laughed. "Why? Look kid, your parents never really cared about you. They just said that stuff so they didn't have to worry about your crying. So keeping this trash would just be something that will upset you in the future."_

"_But-"_

"_How about we relieve you of all that pain." Suddenly, Trapinch through the picture in the air and swallowed it, whole. "There, do you feel much better now?" The two left laughing while Jango fell on the ground in horror._

"_No, no, no." Jango was crying his eyes out. That was the only memory he had of his lost parents and now it was eaten right in front of him. If it wasn't because of him, his parents could still be alive and he wouldn't be living in this orphanage. He sobbed once more and yelled out, __**"MMMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOMMM. DDDDDDDDDDDDDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA DDDDDDDDDDDD!"**_

_FLASHBACK END_

Jango snapped out of his daze only to realize that everyone was staring at him with great concern. Amanda was the first to speak. "Jango, are you okay? You dozed off and you looked like you were in pain."

"You do seem to be very quiet for a Charmeleon, who are naturally reckless. No offense." Zangoose said.

"Is there something you would like to tell us?" Ampharos asked.

Jango was starting to breath really hard now and did it with discomfort. "I…I…I'm going to turn in early." He left the table without another word. Ampharos was going to talk to him, but Jamison stopped him.

"He needs sometime alone is all. He'll be back together in the morning." Ampharos nodded and sat back down.

Amanda was still unsure about Jango's behavior. _I wish I could know what is bugging him so much._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX

Inside his room, Jango was punching and thrashing in his bed trying to rid himself of his frustration. He just hated how the kids at the orphanage always pick on him, and all because of the thing he did ten years ago. He then started to claw the pillows violently and throw them across the room.

"Why, why, why? Why did they have to hurt me? It was never my fault." Jango said to himself quietly. He then felt the air around start to shift. He signed. "I know that's you, Chromo."

Not that surprised, Chromo stepped forward. "I see something is troubling you."

"Yeah, something is. Two things actually. My stupid past and trying to eliminate the princess. It's giving me a Psyduck headache"

Chromo merely chuckled. "You still haven't found out the riddle, have you? You will go down a path, one you never understood; only then will you gain something you lost in your childhood."

"Look genius, I'm not exactly what you call 'The Riddler'."

"Think about it. Ever sense you came here, you have been confused and questioned by people."

"I don't understand what that means." Jango replied only to receive a 'you're serious, right' look. Jango then thought it over, and then slapped his head. "I'm so stupid. The path I'm taking is a normal life, one I never truly understood. The last part though is still a bit foggy."

"Why don't we change the subject? Do you even know why you haven't gotten rid of Amanda and been hesitating?" Jango shook his head. Chromo continued, "The reason is that you are in love with her."

Jango looked unfazed. "Oh, well in that case," He grabbed a water from the mini fridge, took a sip, and then rashly spit it out. "WHAT!"

Chromo just shrugged. "It is the only logical reason you hesitate."

"This can't be right."

"Think about it," Chromo explained, "you two have the same favorite movie, you're very competitive with her, and you two do seem to blush a lot when you're around each other." And as if by magic, he was blushing, hard.

"Well, y-y-yeah, b-but that d-d-doesn't mean, um, uh-"

"Don't believe me? You will accept the truth tomorrow, after the trip to the orphanage and during your 'fight'." Chromo then started to flash.

Jango was confused. "Wait, what are you talking about, what fight?" Chromo has already teleported out of the room. Jango was at a lost for words. _What does he mean by fight? And am I in love with Amanda? Ergh, I hate that bird and his riddles._ With that, he went to bed with those thoughts flowing through him. 


	8. Orphanage

The sun rose from the distance as a pack of Dodrio were cawing out into the air. The residents of Poketopia started to get up and went to their jobs or something else. Kids were running through the streets as their parents tried to catch them. Others just relaxed in the warm sun.

Jango started to get up as well. He looked tired and restless. He was having some trouble falling to sleep after his little chat with Chromo. He still couldn't get the idea of what Chromo was talking about last.

Before he proceeded to get out of bed, he saw something on his nightstand: a home-cooked breakfast. There was a fresh batch of eggs, three strips of bacon, toast, and a glass of Miltank milk. Jango was surprised to see the delicious breakfast in front of him. "I wonder who brought this." He said to himself.

He then saw a note near the food. He picked it up and it read:

_Jango, I don't know why you left last night, but I could tell that you were distraught, mostly because I found shredded pillows in your room. So, I made you this delicious breakfast to cheer you up. Enjoy._

_Signed,_

_Amanda_

Jango started to blush at the kind deed. _Man, I've been acted so depressed and she tried to cheer me up. That has to be the nicest thing anyone has done for me._ Not wanting the food to get cold, he started to eat it. The food tasted amazing, making Jango melt from the taste.

After he finished the meal, he proceeded to the kitchen to put away the plate. When he entered, he saw Amanda reading a magazine and eating cereal. When she saw Jango, she put on a bright smile. "Morning, Jango. Did you enjoy your breakfast?"

He smiled weakly. "Yeah, but you didn't really have to do that."

"I know, but I was just concerned that you might have been upset. The shredded pillows were a tip off." Jango rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Don't worry, we have plenty of pillows."

"Well, that's great." He put his dishes into the sink. "So, shouldn't we get going now?"

"Yeah, let's go."

They left the castle and went to the orphanage. Jango wasn't too comfortable going to a place he was tortured in for four years of his life, but it made Amanda happy. Besides, it was an orphanage for young toddlers who lost their parents at a young age.

Jango then recapped to his little discussion with Chromo. _I don't get it. How can I love Amanda; we just met not too long ago. And I still don't get the last part of that riddle. The only thing I lost in my childhood was…them. Plus, what did he mean by a fight? I don't get into fights…that I started. Man, I'm starting to hate that bird. I swear, if he knows about my secret, my curse, my revenge, I'm going to-_ Too wrapped into his thoughts, he didn't realize he ran into a stop sign(how cliché).

Amanda ran over to him. "Are you okay?"

Jango rubbed his head. "It's going to take more than a stop sign to hurt."

Amanda sighed in relief. "Well, that's good. Anyway, we're here."

Right in front of them was a preschool looking building covered in rainbows and glitter. It was playing some toddler tune through the speakers. Jango stared at it for awhile and sighed. _Other than the choice of color and design, this place doesn't seem that bad._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX

When they entered the building, they were greeted by an Altaria, a blue bird covered in white fluff. She was the run who runs the place. She went up to Amanda and they started to hug, possibly thrilled to see each other again.

"Oh Amanda, it's so good to see you again. Everyone else here missed you too." Altaria said cheerfully.

"Aw, thanks Altaria. I missed everyone else too." Amanda said happily.

"Oh, and how is your father doing?"

"Same old things he does. Filing papers, going to meetings, and threatening boys who come near me." The two laughed whole-heartedly while Jango became intimidated a bit. _I really hope those threats don't end with a gun._ He thought.

Altaria looked at Jango and smiled. "And you must be that nice bodyguard the king hired, correct?" Jango nodded. "Oh how wonderful. However, aren't you a-"

Jango stopped her mid-sentence. "If you were going to say a little young to be a bodyguard, don't. It's getting old." He then crossed his arms.

Altaria was surprised at his behavior and leaned in towards Amanda. "He seems to have an attitude." She whispered.

"Yeah, but you get use to it after awhile." Amanda whispered back.

"So, where are the kids anyway?" Jango asked, still feeling cautious in this place.

"They should be finished with their breakfast by now. Come on, let's go." Altaria said, leading them down the hall, Jango trudging in the back. Amanda saw this and slowed down so she can be next to him.

"Hey, is something wrong?" She asked.

Jango sighed and put on a weak smile. "Yeah, I just have some…issues on my mind is all."

"What do you mean?"

Jango was getting tired of being asked what's wrong, so he decided to say something. "Well, I have been at an orphanage once."

"So, you volunteered there?"

"Something like that." He said not wanting to mention the other part. "Anyway, the kids there would always pick on me just because of something I've done."

Amanda looked interested and concerned. "What did you do?"

Finally, we get to know what is troubling him. "Well…you see, I-"

"We're here." Altaria interrupted, making Jango fall on the floor; and we were so close. "Uh, did I interrupt something?"

Jango got back up. "Oh nothing, nothing at all. Right Amanda?" He said with a wink.

She quickly got the message. "Oh yeah, absolutely nothing." She lied.

Altaria bought it and said, "Ok then. Let's go inside." She proceeded through the doors.

Jango sighed in relief and whispered, "Thanks, and don't worry, I'll explain next time." Amanda wanted to know now, but respected his wishes and nodded. They then started through the doors.

As they entered the room, it was full of young, happy, baby Pokémon. They consisted of Teddiursa, Smoochum, Wynaut, Magby, and so many more. Some were having a fun game of tag and kept falling on the ground. Others were coloring on a piece of paper. Some were still trying to finish their breakfast.

Altaria went up to them and said, "Kids, I have a special surprise for you." The kids all turned towards her. "Look whose back." She then gestured towards Amanda and Jango.

"Aunty Amanda!" they exclaimed in unison. They all ran up to her and gave her a hug, which she gladly returned.

"Oh, I'm so glad to see all of you again, and you've grown a lot sense I last saw you all." She looked at Jango to see he was snickering. "What?"

"Aunty Amanda?" he teased, causing her to blush.

"Yeah, they're kind of like family to me. So I let them call me their aunt." Jango just chuckled.

A Teddiursa was poking Amanda's leg. She looked at him. "Who is he?" he said rather cutely.

"Kids, this is my friend and new bodyguard, Jango. But you can call him Uncle Jango." Jango was flabbergasted by this.

"Uncle Jango!" they ran up to him and gave him a hug, which quickly turned into a dog pile.

Jango was struggling to get up. "You know, for a bunch of toddlers, they're quite heavy." Amanda was laughing at his predicament. He finally manages to get out of the dog pile. He dusted himself off saying, "You could have warned me about that."

Amanda smiled. "I know. Now come on let's go play with them a bit."

"Sorry, but I'm not exactly great with kids. I'm more of a fighter."

"But you said you volunteered at an orphanage." Amanda said confused.

"I also said that they pick on me." Jango retaliated. Amanda was taken back by this. Jango felt guilty and said, "Look, if it makes you happy, I'll play with them later. I just need awhile to myself."

Amanda sighed and then smiled. "Okay, but you will play with them, right?" Jango nodded. "In that case, come on kids." They followed Amanda to a part of the room that had a bunch of toys.

Jango sighed and went over to a wall to lean against it. He watch as Amanda was showing the kids some origami designs and how to make them. Some of them turned out great, some turned out not so great. A Wynaut, for some strange reason, got glued to the paper. The weird part about it is that origami doesn't involve glue. Amanda laughed as she tried to remove the paper.

As he watched this, Jango couldn't help but smile. _She is amazing with children. They respect her, they care about her, and they never forgot about her for the entire year. Makes me want to have kids myself someday._ Jango mentally slapped himself._ Get it together dude. She doesn't love you and you don't love her. Plus, she, nor anyone else, would like you if they knew about you. Everything that has happened to you is just a big mistake, especially if it weren't for…that curse on you._ Jango sighed depressingly.

"Hello." Jango turned to the right suddenly at the sound of the soft voice. It was a small, yellow mouse with pinkish dots on its cheeks. It had pointed ears with black fur on the sides. It had a small black tail that was at an angle. It had some black fur around its neck. It was a Pichu and from the sound of its voice, it was a little girl. She looked spooked. "You aren't going to eat me, are you?"

Jango was confused by the question. "Now why on earth would I eat a cute little kid like you?"

"Because you look scary and mean. I don't like scary and mean." Jango would have been offended if it weren't for the fact he was talking to a three-year old.

"Don't worry, little girl. I'm not going to eat you." He said rubbing her head, making her giggle. He may not be a people person, but he did have a way with the younger ones. "So, what's your name anyway?"

The Pichu giggled. "My name is Katie. What your name?"

"My name is Jango. Nice to meet you." He said shaking her paw. She seemed like such a sweet girl, which then brought in a new thought. "Hey Katie, what are you doing all the way back here anyway? Wouldn't you rather hang out with the kids over there?"

Katie smile quickly turned to a frown. "They don't like me."

"How come? You seem so nice."

"They say I just a baby. I am not a baby. I am big girl. But they are five, I just three." She started to sob. "I want to go back to my mommy and daddy. But Altaria said they leave on really long trip and will not come back." She started to cry uncontrollably and ran up to Jango, tears flowing down his skin. Jango rubbed her back gently. "I want my mommy and daddy!"

Jango felt sorry for her and at the same time, a sense of déjà vu. He notices that she is in the same situation he was in back at his orphanage. Kids being mean, wanting parents to come back, staying away from everyone, etc. He didn't want her to be friendless.

A light bulb goes off in his head. "Hey Katie." She looked at him with wet eyes. "Let me tell you a little story about my first day of preschool. I was shy at that time and didn't want to leave my parents. Do you want to hear?" Katie wiped her eyes and nodded. "Great, so here was when it started…"

_Flashback (Jango's P.O.V_.)

_My parents were walking me to my first day of school when I was your age. Well, they actually had to carry me because I was being a tiny bit stubborn. "Let me go!" I yelled frantically. "This is a violation of the 1__st__ amendment."_

"_Son, you don't even know what that is and taking you to school is not a violation." My dad says walking by my mom's side. She was the one carrying me._

"_But you always say to blame everything on it." I replied back._

_My mother sighed. "Herbert, we're supposed to take him to school, not tell him to blame a document for things he doesn't like."_

_Herbert rubbed his back sheepishly. "Sorry Sandra."_

_I was still upset. "I don't want to go to school. I want to stay with you guys."_

_Herbert started to think. "Well, he does have a photographic memory. He has been talking full sentences sense he was one and a half. Maybe we could home-school." I became excited by this. However, Herbert's idea was swiftly changed after he received a death glare from Sandra. "Your mother's right sport, you need to go to a public school." He said with a fake smile, hiding his terror._

_For the rest of the way, I angrily stared at the ground. We finally arrived at the school. It wasn't much, just a building with a couple of vines growing around it._

_My mom set me down slowly, only to pick me up again because I tried to run back home. Herbert was acting jumpy. "Maybe this is a bad idea honey. You remember what happens when he gets angry." He says with concern (Try to figure it out)._

"_Look, I want our child to have a nice and normal life. I don't want you freaking out about it all the time. Jango is going to be fine. It's like you said before, 'It won't happen unless something really irritates him'." Herbert just sighed and nodded, knowing that winning an argument with Sandra is like surviving an attack from Sharpedo, while tied up. _

"_Does this mean I still have to go to school?" I said putting on the cutest face I got, hoping to persuade them. Unfortunately, they were not so easily swayed. _

"_Look sweetie," My mother began, "you need to make some new friends and I can't just teach you at home. Your daddy and I are very busy Pokémon. Besides, we'll be here at three o'clock ready to pick you up."_

"_But what if know one likes me?"_

"_Then you give a good clean hit right at their-" Before Herbert finished, he received another death glare from my mother. He quickly restated, "What I meant to say was that you should just talk and get to know them better. The more you know, the more friends you make." Sandra smiled at his answer._

"_I am really good at knowing things." My parents laughed wholeheartedly. "I want to go to school! I want to go to school!" Sandra put me down and I ran to the doors to start my first day._

_Herbert wrapped an arm around Sandra. "And to think that we were trying to get him out of bed because he didn't want to go."_

"_Yeah. Now let's go home and talk about your 'advice'." Sandra said giving him a kiss on the cheek. Herbert rubbed his head sheepishly as they went home._

_Flashback End (Returning to Normal P.O.V.)_

As soon as Jango finished, Katie has stopped her crying and became really interested from the story. "So Katie, what did you learn from my story?"

"Your daddy scared of your mommy." She said laughing up a storm.

Jango sweat-dropped. "Okay, that is true. But what else?"

Katie was thinking really hard to come up with an answer, until she found one. "To make friends, you need to know them?"

"Exactly, and you can't do that all the way back here. You need to take a chance and not be shy."

Katie nodded and hugged Jango. "Thank you, Uncle Jangy." Jango was about to correct her about his name, but decided to let it slide and return the hug.

"Oh isn't that cute." Jango became startled by the voice and released the hug. _Why do I get the impression that Pokémon are just going to keep popping out of nowhere?_ Jango thought irritably. He turned to see Amanda right behind him, along with the kids. "I thought you wanted to be left alone?" she said mockingly.

Jango shrugged. "Eh, I did say I was going to play around later. Besides, I was just cheering her up." A thought crossed him. "Wait a second, how long were you over here anyway?"

"Long enough to know you use to be a shy kid; and you still are." She teased.

Jango then had a playful look on his face. "If I'm so shy, how come I'm willing to do…THIS!?" Jango lunged at Amanda and started to wrestle with her on the ground.

"Hey," she said while laughing, "let…me…go." Jango thought about it and shook his head and they kept rolling on the ground until Jango was above her, smirking triumphantly. "Okay, you asked for this." She then shifted her body and managed, somehow, to flip Jango in the air and fall on the ground. Now Amanda was the one smirking.

Jango got up and smiled, saying, "Sorry about that, jus trying to prove a point."

Amanda waved it off. "Don't worry, that was kind of fun."

"Us next, us next." The kids were all screaming to wrestle. Jango and Amanda looked at each with big smirks and started to wrestle around with the kids. The kids were all screaming, in a good way. During the entire time however, Jango couldn't help but actually smile at the fun he was having right now. _I guess this place isn't so bad after all._


	9. Jango vs David

After a fun few hours with the kids at the orphanage, Amanda and Jango decided to take them to the local park to get some fresh air and ice cream. Altaria was delighted with the idea and allowed them to go. "Just don't forget to bring them back before five," she says as they went to the park.

The kids went out and began to play on the various play sets at the park. Katie was having a great time with everyone else as well. She managed to become friends with some of the girls. She was glad that Jango told her how to make friends without hiding in fear.

Amanda paid for the ice cream and she, plus Jango, started to hand out everyone's ice cream. Jango memorized what everyone wanted, limiting the complaints to absolute zero.

While eating their ice cream, the kids went over to a picnic table and were talking about stuff like cartoons and stuff toys. Jango and Amanda were eating their ice cream and were having a bit of a chat, while glancing at the kids every once in awhile.

"So Jango, did you have fun or did you have a bad time?" Amanda teased.

Jango shook his head at her amusement. "Okay I'll admit, that wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I guess I shouldn't hold the past against myself." _Even though some parts are emotionally scarring._ He thought in sadness, but still kept a smile on his face. "What made you want to volunteer at an orphanage anyway?"

Amanda looked at the ground. "Well…after my mom died, I started to realize that other kids were just as upset as I was when they lost their parents. I mean, I still have my dad, but he's usually busy. Years later, I heard that the orphanage needed some help. The kids there were just in a state of panic, knowing that they will never see their family ever again.

"So, I thought I could cheer the kids up. After awhile, the kids started to become calmer. They would always wait for when I plan to visit. Playing with those kids made me forget how much I missed my mom." She started to frown and tears started to form. "Still, not one day has gone by where I wished my mom was here, standing next to me…and wishing me good night."

Jango looked at Amanda, who let the tears finally flow down her face. He became concerned and got closer to her. Amanda looked at him with a faint blush. "There's nothing to cry about Amanda. Your mom wouldn't want you to act like that. Losing family can be rough at first, but they will always be right there…" He pointed his claw at the left side of her body. "…in your heart." He wiped away a few of the tears on her face and stared into her eyes.

Amanda blush darkened. "I know. It's just that I don't know much about her. She died when I was three. We went on vacation, but assassins jumped us and tried to kill us. My mom tried to fend them off, telling my dad to run as far away as he can with me. That was the last time I ever saw my mom."

Jango started to feel guilty. He may not have been the one who killed her mom, but he felt that being an assassin himself was guilty enough. Jango wrapped his arms around Amanda and gave her a hug. This surprised both of them and ironically, Jango was more surprised. But he continued it anyway. "Amanda, don't worry about it, okay."

Amanda got over the surprised feeling and happily reciprocated the hug. "Thanks Jango. You are truly a great friend."

"Yeah, which reminds me." He pulled away from the hug and looked at her. "There's something I need to tell you." Amanda tilted her head in confusion. "You see, there are a couple of things about myself that I never mentioned and I think this is a perfect time to mention them." Jango took a deep breath. "Amanda, back at Fire Lizard Valley, I-"

Before he could even get a syllable out, a glowing purple trash bag starts flying towards the two. Jango manages to move Amanda and himself out of the way. The bag explodes on the ground and forms a crater in the ground.

"What was that?" Amanda asked in fright.

"I believe that was a move called Gunk Shot. But who would have aimed it at us?" They both heard a sinister laughter coming from not to far away. They looked over to see a familiar, yet unpleasant face. "David, should have known."

The Linoone came over to the startled duo. "Well, well, well. Fancy meeting you two here. How is your day going?" David said politely, in an evil sort of way.

"You nearly nailed us with a Gunk Shot attack. How do you think we're feeling?" Amanda yelled viciously.

David scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I was really meaning to hit 'Gecko Freak' over there. I never realized you were in front of him."

Ignoring the insult, Jango goes up to David. "Alright, spill it. Why did you aim that attack at me?"

"You should know." David yelled. "You stole my girl from me, embarrassed me at the tournament, poured a piping hot smoothie in my mouth, and convinced my younger brother to commit a violent act of assault on me with a metal bat."

"And I enjoyed every second of it." Jango said smugly. "Also, last I check, the closes you got to a girlfriend is your own mother." Amanda snickered at the remark while David was grinding his teeth.

"Just. Shut. Up. If you never came into this city in the first place, I could have finally been with my one true love." Amanda was starting to look like that she was going to barf. "But no, you just waltz on over and take my happiness away from me. I mean, come on, she would rather have me as a boyfriend then some freak of nature."

"That's where you're wrong David." Amanda chirped in. David and Jango were both surprised. "Jango, unlike you, happens to be an amazing friend. He is even a true gentleman, _most_ of the time." Jango just shrugged. "And just before you came along, Jango was comforting me. That just proves that he would make a better boyfriend then you." Jango had a dark red blush on his face. He never expected her to say that about him. Amanda also blushed from what she just said as well.

As for David, his mouth, literally, fell to the ground in pure shock. His anger towards Jango started to bottle up. "Okay then, if that's how you feel, then I challenge you to a battle!" He exclaimed, pointing his paw at Jango.

"Did you hit your head or something? I clearly demolished you the last time. You wouldn't stand a chance." Jango said.

"Oh, but that is where you are wrong." David started to explain, "You see, I reviewed your battle style from the last time we battled, and I know how you fight. You seem to rely on your speed in order to get out of situations that you can maneuver through. You use your power to help you parry any powerful attacks that can't be dodged too well. As for defense, it seemed pretty average from the blows you took. So, I learned Gunk Shot in order to incapacitate you so you'd be weaker. That will allow me to win."

"Or maybe you're just a stupid rodent who is a little too confident and probably had nothing better to do in his free time." Jango countered. Although, he was right about his technique.

"If you think you can beat me so easily, then let's bet. If you manage to beat me in battle, I won't bother you or the _beautiful_ princess anymore. But if I win, you have to allow me twenty-four, uninterrupted hours alone with her." Jango was shocked. If he allowed that, the king will have his head presented on a sliver platter. "That is, unless your afraid."

Jango was about to say no, but Amanda said, "Do it Jango."

Jango was surprised by this. "But, what about you?"

"I have confidents in you…and I know you can beat him. So don't worry about me and just win." Amanda said sweetly.

That pretty much gave Jango a good reason to kick David's sorry ass. He turned to David and said, "I accept your challenge." David grinned evilly with delight. Jango sighed. _Guess this was the fight Chromo was referring to. Let's just get this over with._

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Word about the fight caught on quickly, because there was a large crowd surrounding the two fighters who were preparing for battle. Apparently, most of the crowd was placing bets on the two, mostly on Jango though. The rest were a bunch of weird geeks that idolized David.

Amanda was waiting for the battle to start. Either though she trusted Jango to win, she still was worried about the fact that there was a chance she have to spend time with David. _For twenty-four hours uninterrupted!_ Amanda thought in horror.

She snapped out of her thoughts when she felt a tugging on her tail. She turned to see Katie, along with the other younglings. "What is Uncle Jangy doing?" She asked in confusion.

Amanda smiled a little and knelt down. "Look Katie, Jango is just going to do a battle. It's a bit like wrestling, just _slightly_ more dangerous."

"Is he going to be okay?" She asked in concern.

Amanda got up and looked at Jango. "I hope."

Jango looked at her and gave a small wave, which she happily returned. He then focused back at David. _Okay, I need to be careful. There is no way of telling how he'll battle this time, so I need to keep my guard up. And really need to watch how I use my moves. I don't want a repeat of what happen ten years ago._

David grinned sinisterly and said, "You ready for the beating of your life?"

"Ready to pummel you into the ground." Jango replied back.

They both took their battle stance and glared at each other. The spectators were waiting for who would make the first move. Some were video taping it for their amusement.

After a long silence, David struck first. "Water Pulse!" He formed a ball of energized water and fired towards Jango. He simply side stepped out of the way as the attack flew by harmlessly.

He started to charge towards the Rush Pokémon. "Dragon Claw." He thrust the glowing claws at him.

"Slash." He parried the attack before it made contact. They pushed themselves away from each other.

"Thunderbolt." David released a stream of electricity at Jango. But as always, he had a counter strategy.

"Dragon Claw." His claws glowed blue and were positioned in front of him. They not only countered the Thunderbolt, but also absorbed the attack. "Thunder Punch!" Jango started to attack and landed a swift blow at David, with a slight power boost from the Thunderbolt.

David was off balanced for a second, but shook off the pain. "Well played, but this battle has only just begun." He started to charge forward with Slash.

Jango started to dodge the attacks with little difficulty. However, David did manage to land a few hits on him. Before David could use Slash again, Jango grabbed both of his arms and held him in place. "Flamethrower." The fire attack hit David in the face and sent him in the air.

He manages to regain his balance in mid-air and charges up an attack. "Gunk Shot." He fires the purple trash bag at Jango and it makes contact. The smoke cleared and Jango appeared dizzy, but wasn't treated with the poison effect of Gunk Shot. "Slash." He dived down and tries to hit Jango.

Jango shakes off the dizziness and jumps up towards him. He started to become engulfed in blue fire. "Flare Blitz." The two made contact and were blown away by an explosion. They landed safely and still had a lot of energy left.

"Water Pulse." David fired the water attack at Jango and it sent him flying to a tree.

Jango regains his balance in mid-air and rebounds off the tree. "Thunder Punch." The impact sends David tumbling on the ground. He gets up and tries to attempt a Thunderbolt, but Jango has other ideas. "Flamethrower." He fires the attack at David's feet and he starts jumping up and down to try and relieve the pain.

"Water Pulse." He throws the attack on the ground and it creates a small tidal wave that hits Jango. "Thunderbolt." It strikes Jango with massive pain sense he was all wet. "Hahaha, ready to give up now?" David said in a cruel manner.

Jango shakes his head and glares with determination. However he was starting to lose his steam. "If you think those attacks will stop, you're an even bigger dunce then I originally thought."

David shook his head disappointedly. "You asked for this, Gunk Shot." He throws the trash bag at Jango. He jumps out of the way in time, but David kept throwing attacks, one after another. Jango is suddenly surrounded by a thick smoke and can't see anything past it. David then dives through and uses Slash repeatedly on Jango.

Jango counters back with his Dragon Claw. The two kept trading blows with each other. This went on for awhile until they both unleashed their Thunderbolt and Flamethrower respectively at each other, blowing away the smoke.

They stood an equal distance from each. They both were starting to become increasingly tired from the fighting.

Jango was getting pretty annoyed at this point. _He really has improved his game. He seems to know how I'm going to attack most of the time. There has got to be away to beat him. Maybe I can knock him into a tree and burn it. No, that's stupid. I could use Thunder Punch until he is paralyzed. No, too risky._

_**Or you can use my help boy.**_ Jango gasped at the sound of the voice in his head. It sounded demonic and cold and soulless.

_No, not you again. Get out of my head. _Jango yelled in his thoughts while clutching his head.

_**You know you can't win without me boy. Come on, it will be fun. Plus, you get to watch that rodent suffer.**_ It said persuading him to do…whatever it was trying to ask for (What could it be).

_No way, I won't let you. As much as I hate David, I won't let you eradicate him for your own personal pleasure._

_**Jango, it's been ten years sense you last let me come out.**_

_I was furious and in trauma during that time. I don't need your help._

_**But Jango, do you really want David to steal your girlfriend?**_

_She is not my girlfriend._

_**I can read your thoughts Jango. You have mixed feelings about this girl don't you? **_

Currently in reality, everyone was staring at Jango in confusion. He was grunting and clutching his head in discomfort.

Amanda became concern. "Jango, wants wrong with you?" She yelled at him, but he didn't seem to here. "Jango." She whispered to herself.

"Uncle Jangy?" Katie said in sadness. The other kids were getting worried too.

The only one who wasn't worried about Jango was David, who saw this as an opportunity to attack. "If you aren't going to respond anytime soon, I'll just make you. Full Powered Gunk Shot!" He fired the attack at Jango and caused him to be thrown back into a tree.

Jango finally snapped out of his thoughts and tried to get up. But he stumbled on the ground and tried to hold himself up. Purple electricity started to course around his body and looked a little purple himself. Amanda put her paws up to her mouth and gasped. "Oh no, he's been poisoned."

David started to charge forward with Slash, but Jango managed to roll out of the way in time, despite his condition. "Flame… (cough)…thrower." He wheezed as he blasted it in David's face. "Thunder Punch." He got up and threw an electrified punch at his face. "And…finally…Dragon Claw." He slashed his claws at David. He stumbled back, bleeding a little from his left arm.

"You son of a bitch, you are going to pay for that. GUNK SHOT!" He fired the poison attack at Jango, who took a major hit. Before he could get up, David fired more and more Gunk Shots at Jango. The poison circulating through his organs was increasing more by the second. It was making it difficult to stay conscious.

Amanda had tears in her eyes, as did the kids. "David, Stop It. Please Stop." She pleaded.

Sense he didn't want to disobey her, David stopped the flow of attacks, but went up to Jango. He was trying his hardest to get up, but the poison just made more intense. That's when David comes over, grabs his neck, and pushes him to the ground, hard. "Don't bother; the poison will only make it worse. And even if your Blaze ability were to activate, you pass out eventually. Your ability won't save you this time. And now you lost, I won. Now I get Amanda for twenty-four hours, Gecko Freak." With that, David slams him on the ground and walks over to Amanda, who was stepping back in disgust and fright.

Jango's vision started to become blurry, both from slow, losing consciousness and that he was crying himself. _I can't believe I lost to him. And now I'm going to lose Amanda. She will hate me forever. She will never forgive me. It'll be like at the orphanage, no one would care about me ever again. I failed._

_**You haven't failed yet boy. **_The demonic voice said. _**There is a chance for you to win. But that will require you to let me out. After all, how much do you care for that girl?**_

Jango looked at the panicking Amanda. He felt heartbroken to see her like that. She was the only person that truly liked him for his personality. They had so much in common, they got along so well, and above all, Jango found her to be the most beautiful girl he had ever met.

_I…I…I like her. No, I love her. She is the best thing that ever came into my life. No one could ever replace her._ Suddenly, all those hurt emotions quickly changed to boiling anger. _And if David takes her away from me, he will pay the ultimate price._ The previous tears on his face started to evaporate. The ground under him started to steam.

_**That's right boy, use your anger. Let it give you the power of a thousand suns.**_ The voice said while laughing malevolently.

Jango's anger was starting to rise and the ground was starting to show signs of melting. _David will pay. David will suffer. David will burn. David…will…__**DIE!**_ His pupils rolled to the back of his head and his entire eye became blood red.

_To be continued…_


	10. Fiery Nightmare

Amanda looked in horror as she saw Jango on the ground, poisoned and in pain. If she never asked him to do the bet, he wouldn't have ended up like that. She fears that this was all her fault. What's worse, now that Jango was defeated, Amanda would have to spend the next twenty-four hours with David.

She was currently backing away from him as he was slowly walking towards her. She could only imagine the torture she would have to go through if she were to be stuck with him with no interruptions.

As she was backing away, she walked right into a tree. As she tried to get away, David blocked both her pathways. "Sorry beautiful, but a bet is a bet. Now, how bout a little kiss?" he asked in a creepy tone.

"I'm not going to kiss you." She said in disgust.

"You really don't have a choice." He started to lean closer to her until their noses were touching. "Now come on, it's just a little kiss."

Amanda was breathing in discomfort. True, some boys in the town liked her, but they knew about personal space better than David. Sense she didn't really have a choice, she closed her eyes and waited for it to be over.

The kids were shielding their eyes from the scene. Katie was becoming concerned for Amanda. "He is a big smelly meanie." She said to herself.

David started to lean in on Amanda, getting ready to kiss her. Amanda was nervously waiting for the worse. Before David came close to Amanda's lips, he stopped short and smelled the air. "That's weird."

Amanda opened her eyes. "What's weird?"

"Uh, do you feel hot?" he asked. Amanda stared at him in annoyance.

"It's bad enough you tried to kiss me, but now you're doing lousy pickup lines."

David shook his head. "No, I'm being serious. The temperature feels like it's rising."

Amanda realized that he was right. The temperature was starting to become hotter and she was starting to sweat a little. "It was cooler a minute ago."

"And, do you smell something burning?" Before David could figure it out, a large streak of crimson fire shot through the air and nailed him. The attack sent him flying into a tree. As he tried to get up, the crimson fire suddenly engulfed him, burning him in unimaginable pain. "IT BURNS!" he yelled in agony. The flames slowly dissipated and left David half burned.

"Oh man, what did that?" Amanda wondered in fright. She looked over in the direction of the attack and saw something that she couldn't believe. "Jango?!"

Jango was standing in the exact spot he was left. However, something was different about him. He was surrounded by an aura that looked like crimson flames. His arms were covered in the same exact flames. The fire on his tail grew in size and was crimson as well. Jango's eyes had no pupils and were emitting the crimson flames as well. The look in his eyes was soulless and angered.

He started to walk forward. Each step he took was started to melt the ground under him. The atmosphere around him was giving off a strong heat, which explains the change in climate. He was walking towards David with the same angered look.

David managed to recover from the attack and started to stand. "I don't get it. How are you standing? The poison should be depleting your health." His suspicions were answered as Jango exhaled poisonous gas from his mouth. "Oh man, the heat coming from him must of evaporated the poison." He said in fright.

As Jango kept walking forward, the crowd was starting to run away to protect themselves. And to make matters worse, the heat started to rise in the air and slowly expanded into a dome of crimson energy, trapping everyone in the park. One Pokémon tried to go through, but ended up coming out burned.

Amanda couldn't believe what she was looking at. Jango, her friend and loyal guard, has suddenly become a walking reactor. "I don't understand. What happened to Jango?" She then thought back to things Jango said before.

_FLASHBACK_

"_Look, Amanda, you are a sweet girl and all, but if I tell you, it would bring back some bad memories from the past. Let's just say I did something awhile back that was the main reason that I'm here."_

_FLASH_

"_Anyway, the kids there would always pick on me just because of something I've done."_

_FLASH_

"_You see, there are a couple of things about myself that I never mentioned and I think this is a perfect time to mention them."_

_FLASHBACK ENDS_

Amanda comes back to reality to see Jango still advancing towards David. "Is this what Jango was talking about? Is this his secret?" She said to herself in wonder.

Currently with David, he backs away further to get as far from Jango as possible. Then he realizes something. "Wait a minute, sense Blaze is activated, he must be weak at this point. I could finish him right now. Water Pulse." He throws the orb of water at Jango. But before it made contact, it exploded into water vapor as soon as it hit the flames around Jango. His eyes glowed through the vapor as he slowly started to walk out. David was speechless.

Amanda was just as shocked. "That's…impossible."

David had to think fast. "Gunk Shot." He threw the attack at Jango, but it ended just burning away before it made contact. "Guess that won't work. So, Thunderbolt." The electricity went sailing at Jango, but the fire around him blocked the attack. "I am running out of options here."

"It's like Jango doesn't know he's being attacked." Amanda said to herself.

"Okay, a little close combat fighting will make you beg for mercy, Slash." David charged right at him with his claws glowing. He slashed at Jango, but he didn't seem to feel any pain. When David stopped, he was panting in exhaustion. He looked at his paws to see that they were enveloped in the same burning flames. He waved his hands frantically to try and shake off the fire. He splashed a Water Pulse on himself to relieve the pain. "Oh, that is much better."

Suddenly, without warning, Jango grabbed David's neck and slowly lifted him in the air. Jango stared at David with the same devious, angered expression. **"You,"** Jango yelled with his voice having a mixture of his real voice and a more demonic one. **", you have stained this world with the blood of your evil. As punishment, I will personally send you to the deepest, darkest parts of Hell."** David started to whimper. And if that wasn't bad enough, his throat was starting to steam and showed a few sparks of fire.

Amanda couldn't stand to watch this. She started to run to them. "Jango, stop. You can't just kill him."

Jango stared at her with the same angered expression. **"Stay out of my way, mortal."** With his free hand, he flicked a strong current of heat at her that sent her flying into a tree. She slid to the ground in pain.

"Aunty Amanda!" The kids screamed as they went over to help her up.

"Thanks kids." She groaned as she started to look at Jango. "Jango, what has happened to you?"

Jango threw David to the ground. **"Dragon Claw."** He raised his arm and his claws started to glow a deadly red color instead of blue. He slashed David and he was sent deeper into the ground. He started to rise, but the red claw marks on his side emitted flames and engulfed him in burning agony. **"Thunder Punch."** Jango's fist was enveloped in red electricity and he slammed it on top of David, making him scream in pure horror as the electricity not only was electrocuting him, but also burning him as well.

"You know…the more…I think about…it…the more I realize…that this might…not be his…Blaze ability." David panted to no one in particular. "What is up…with his attacks? Their…not normal."

Jango picked David off the ground with one paw and was charging Dragon Claw with the other. **"Any last words?" **He asked cruelly.

David grunted, "Yeah, you need to cool off. Water Pulse." Sense he was at blank point range, the attack manages to strike Jango. However, the only good it did was making him stumble back and lose his grip on David. "Catch you later." David said as he dashed off to a spot he could hide in.

Jango recovered from the attack, but was boiling mad at this point. **"So, you want play rough? I'll give you rough."** What happened next made everyone scream in terror. Jango stomped his feet on the ground and unleashed an ear-splitting screech. Everyone covered their ears in pain. Everything in the park that was made of fragile material was starting to break one by one.

"My ears, they hurt!" Amanda screamed as she was doing her best to block out the deadly sound. Some of the Pokémon were beginning to pass out from the sound, but were luckily still alive. "I need to get the kids out of here."

Jango finally stopped screeching, but then he slammed his fist into the ground. It started to form fissures everywhere, releasing hot gas and, afterwards, molten magma. The Pokémon were running as far away as they can, but the red hot dome was still blocking the exit. They were about to take refuge in the trees, but the burning air was obliterating the trees.

Amanda was looking around for an exit when she saw something that might help. Two Drilbur and one Excadrill. "You three, I need you to dig us a tunnel to get everyone out of here." Not wanting to disobey her order, the Ground-types started to drill an escape route for everybody.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX

Outside of the dome, Sphere and Flower were walking towards the park, while in another heated argument. "No, Groudon can easily beat Kyogre because of its Solarbeam." Sphere yelled.

"But Kyogre can use water attacks to take down Groudon." Flower yelled back.

"But Groudon is master of land, where most of life exists."

"If you did your homework at school more efficiently, you would know that life started from the sea, which Kyogre rules over."

The two shot daggers at each other, but stopped when the ground in front of them collapsed, revealing a hole. Many Pokémon were coming out one by one, including Amanda. "Amanda?!" They exclaimed in unison.

"Guys?" She said in confusion.

"What the heck were you doing in a hole?" Flower asked.

Amanda looked flabbergasted. "Do you not see the giant red dome radiating over the park?" She said as she gestured towards the park.

Sphere and Flower looked at the dome in confusion. "How did we miss that?" Sphere asked. Flower shrugged. "Amanda, what is going on?"

"It's Jango. He and David made this bet and David was winning just a moment ago, but Jango was suddenly on fire and is destroying everything he touches."

"How did it happen?" Flower asked.

"I don't know, but I do know that Jango is defiantly hiding something now. We need to stop him before he kills David." The two friends look at her in confusion. "Just because I don't like him doesn't mean we should let him die. Look, you two try to stall Jango while I call my dad to see if he can send help." They saluted her and jumped into the hole. Amanda then pulled out a cell phone and dialed a number.

"_Hello?"_

"Hey dad, it's me." Amanda said sweetly.

"_Hey pumpkin, how's your day going?"_

"Oh, it's going great…EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT THE PARK IS ON FIRE!" She screamed.

"_WHAT?!"_

"Listen, I know you're probably going to ask why first, but I need you to…" She stopped when she heard nothing on the other end. "Dad?" There was a loud scream on the other end and the connection died. Amanda had a calm look on her face. "He took it better then I thought." She put the phone away and jumped into the hole.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX

The park was in shambles. Most of the ground was covered in lava. All of the play sets were either melted or destroyed. The trees were on fire and burning the grass under them. Luckily, everyone got out safely, except one unfortunate soul.

David was hiding behind a large rock. He was hyperventilating. He tried to keep as quiet as possible, but was letting out small gasps. He looked behind the rock every once in a while to see if Jango was lurking anywhere.

"Okay, try to stay calm." He said to himself. "What's the worse he could do to you? He could find you, rip you apart, throw you into the lava, and then you would die on the spot. Okay, I'm obviously not good at pep talks, especially to myself." He started to get up to try and find a different hiding spot.

Just as he was about to, the rock he was hiding behind was suddenly split in half, revealing Jango. **"Here's Jango!"** he growled with an ever so wicked frown. David bolted away from him as fast as he could. Jango started to chase after him, but his path was blocked off by two Pokémon. Jango easily recognized them as Sphere and Flower, but that didn't soften his anger. **"Get out of my way."**

Sphere started to speak, "Jango, let's just talk for a minute. Why are you so angry?"

"I've got a better question, why are you on fire?" Flower asked.

Jango didn't bother to answer their questions. **"Let me repeat myself, get out of the way or else."**

"As annoying and stupid as David is, we won't let you kill him." Flower yelled.

"**You wouldn't be able to stop me."**

"Maybe she can't, but I can, Ice Beam." While holding his newly obtained NeverMeltIce, Sphere formed a ball of icy energy that released three crooked beams straight at Jango. It started to freeze him in a block of ice, extinguishing his flames, and thanks to the NeverMeltIce, it was a lot stronger. "I hope that can hold him for a bit."

"Let's get David and get out of here." Flower said. They were about to start searching, but when they turned around, they gasped. The ice around Jango was melting at a fast rate. When there was only a little ice left, the flames around came back to life and shattered the rest of the ice.

"**Did you really think ICE was going to stop me?" **he asked in annoyance.

The two friends took a stance. "We can still be you." Sphere acknowledged.

"**Fools, it is hopeless. No one can beat me. No one can defeat the power of the Hidden Blaze." **He yelled in anger.

"Hidden Blaze?" Sphere said in confusion.

"Why do I feel like I heard that somewhere before?" Flower said to herself.

"**Enough games, it is time to finish you two off. FLARE BLITZ!"** He was then shrouded in flames and they were an evil red color. He started to dash forward.

"We need to stop him." Flower yelled. "Razor Leaf." She swung her leafs back and fired sharp leaves.

"Brine." Sphere fired a jet of water. The two attacks came towards Jango and exploded on contact. "Did it work?"

Much to their dismay, Jango charged right out of the smoke and collided with the two. Jango landed and watched in amusement as Sphere and Flower were wrapped up in the flames. The odd parts about this are that their doing major damage on the two equally and the flames weren't dying out. **"Have fun…burning into you graves."** He started to walk away and search for David.

Just as he was out of sight, Amanda came into view and saw her friends were on fire and were in deadly pain. "AMANDA, HELP!" they screamed as the pain was increasing.

"Oh man, what do I do?" she looked around nervously and saw an unharmed fire hydrant. "Perfect, Iron Tail." The orb on her tail turned to steel and she crushed the hydrant, which then burst and sent a stream of high pressured water that doused the burning victims. As soon as the water stopped flowing, she ran over to them. "Are you guys okay?"

They were far from okay. They looked in shock. Their skin was cover in dark ashes. They had third degree burns all over them. And to top it all off, they were both shivering. "That…power. It was unbelievable." Sphere gasped.

"So…p-p-p-painful." Flower said shakily.

"Guys, where's Jango?" Amanda asked. Sphere merely pointed in the direction he went in. Amanda was concerned for her friends, but she had to stop Jango before things go too far.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX

David kept running as far away from Jango as possible. He stopped for a moment to catch his breath. He turned his head to see the escape hole everyone used to get out of the park.

"Heh, that loser won't catch me now." He ran to the hole. He then did a dive into it. But before he was able to get in, a red blur comes out of nowhere and tackles David into the side of a tree. When his vision cleared a bit, he saw that the attacker was Jango. "Me and my big mouth." He complained.

Jango grasped his throat and started to choke him. **"Never out run a demon, it'll only just make things worse for you."**

"Listen pal," David wheezed, ", maybe we got off on the wrong foot here. Why don't we just make a deal and you don't kill me." He pleaded pathetically.

"**I'm done making deals with you. Now prepare to die."** Jango's body erupted into a harsh crimson flame similar to Flare Blitz. The flames were trapped around David and all he could do now was scream in agonizing pain.

Amanda finally found the two, but gasped at what was happening. "Jango, stop. Please stop it now." He ignored her as he kept slowly burning away David.

"HELP, PLEASE SOMEONE HELP!" David screamed in terror and demise.

Amanda couldn't watch this anymore. She ran up to Jango and started to pull his arm. "Jango, that's enough." Before she realized it, the flames on him started to engulf her. She screamed as the flames surrounded her and was slowly killing her like David.

However, Jango turned to her and finally had a different emotion on his face then anger: Frightened.

"**A…Aman**da!" he yelled in fright for her safety and his voice was starting to change back to normal. His eyes flashed normal for a minute as he saw all of the destruction he caused at the park. He gasped. He dropped David to the ground, then yelled, "Demon, **get out** of **my** head." The flames on him were starting to swirl around him. They slowly started to absorb all of the fire that he caused, including the ones on David and Amanda. As soon as they disappeared, the two fell to the ground, unconsciously and burned. All of the lava was slowly going back underground.

The speed of the flames started to swirl around Jango faster and faster and faster, until they dispersed from him. Jango was no longer on fire and his eyes were normal. But, he slowly fell to the ground landed with a thud. He was slowly seeping into unconsciousness. Before he did, he saw two sets of feet running towards them. Then, he blacks out. 


	11. Secret Behind the Hidden Blaze

Jango's mind felt cloudy and oblivious to his surroundings. He was having a hard time trying to remember what even happened to him, and his memory was almost flawless. He started to stir as the he felt the ground under him. It was soft and comfortable to the touch. His head was on a fluffy object that felt like a soft cloud.

He slowly opened his eyes, taking awhile to adjust to the light. When he was finally able to see, he realized that he was in a bed. But it wasn't his bed; it was actually a hospital bed. His eyes widened and he tried to get up, but a sharp pain made him lay back down.

He examined himself to see that he had bandages wrapped around his arms. His forehead was bandaged up as well. His torso was bandaged up along with a couple of moist towels on them. He was confused at the sudden change of environment. _What the heck am I doing in a hospital?_ He thought. He turned his head to the left and his heart almost stopped.

Sleeping in the hospital beds next to him were Sphere and Flower. They were all bandaged up too. But what really caught his eye were the scorch marks on them. They were being treated with wet towels on them. He was starting to get scared now and looked at himself again to see that he also had scorch marks on him. _Please don't tell me it happened again._ He thought in a panic. He heard a groan on his right and saw something that did make his heart stop.

Amanda was covered in bandages on her body and head. Her tail was bandaged with noticeable burn marks on it. She looked like she was in pain from the expression on her face. She was stirring a bit and looked as if she was having a nightmare. Jango didn't like seeing her like this so he proceeded to wake her up. "Amanda, wake up. C'mon, wake up." He said in a loud whisper.

She didn't wake immediately, but after a few seconds her eyes fluttered open. She looked around a bit to see that they were not at the park anymore. "Jango?" She said confused. "Where are we?"

"If I had to guess, I say we are in a hospital. Also, you looked like you were struggling in your sleep."

Amanda's eyes drooped in sadness. "After everything that happened today, I'm not too shocked at the nightmare."

"What do you mean 'After everything that happened today'?" Jango said confused, however he had a pretty good idea what it may be about and is hoping he's wrong.

Now Amanda was getting confused. "You mean, you don't remember how you were on fire and destroyed the park?" Jango's eyes widened in pure fright. He started to remember brief glimpses from today, from going to the orphanage, to fighting David, and the last thing he could remember was admitting he loved Amanda. He clutched his face and started to growl at himself.

"Oh why, why, why did this have to happen again?" Jango said in frustration.

"Wait a minute, what do you mean-"Before she could finish, Ampharos, along with Zangoose and Jamison, came into the room. Ampharos hugged his daughter in pure joy.

"Oh, I'm so glad my little pumpkin is okay. I was so scared." His exclaims woke Sphere, Flower, and an unnoticed David from their sleep. David looked worse than the others. He was wrapped in more bandages, had third degree burn almost everywhere, patches of his fur were missing, and he was having an even harder time getting up.

"Dad…you're kind of…choking me here." Amanda gasped out. Ampharos let go and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Sorry, I just heard you talking and got excited that you were okay." He said embarrassed. Amanda shook her head and smiled at his antics.

"How did we get here?" David asked while rubbing his head from a slight pain.

Jamison started to explain, "After King Ampharos got that phone call from Amanda, we rushed over to the park as fast as we can. We found all of you past out on the ground and barely breathing either. Zangoose managed to get Sphere and Flower just before they were out cold. We managed to get you all here just in time."

"But what I want to know is why the park looked like it was on a barbeque." Zangoose said. Amanda, Sphere, Flower, and David stared directly at Jango, who was currently twiddling his claws. The adults looked at him curiously.

He started to nervously laugh. "Heh, funny story actually." Before he could say anything else, a Blissey with a nurse cap wandered in with a clipboard.

"Excuse me, my king. I need to talk to you about some scans I took of everyone, but mostly about Jango's." Ampharos looked back at Jango then back at the nurse. _This can't be good._ He thought before nodding his head and following the nurse out the door.

As soon as he left, David started to speak, "This is all your fault, Gecko Freak."

"How is this my fault?" Jango complained.

"I was winning the bet and suddenly you're all super charged. So what did you do, illegal experiments or some sort of radioactive weapon?"

"Neither and it wasn't my fault."

"Right, I'm sure you turning into a walking volcano was a freak accident." Jango glared at him with hatred.

"Hold on," Zangoose cut in, "what do you mean by bet?"

David became tense and started to sweat. Jango had an evil smirk. "Oh yeah. David, do you remember that bet we made where if you win you get to-" The way David was flailing his arms telling him to stop brought a joyful smile to his face. _Too easy._ Jamison and Zangoose were confused by this, but decided to ignore it.

Ampharos came back through the door with the nurse. "Excuse me miss, but do you mine if you leave for awhile? I need to talk to everyone about what you just told me."

"I don't mine at all. I'll just get the forms filled out for you." With that, she exited the now quiet room.

Sphere decided to break the silence. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Well, I got good news and bad news." Ampharos started. "The good news is that you guys are free to go, just as long as you apply burn ointment to the burned parts of your skin."

"What's the bad news?" Flower asked.

Ampharos sighed. "The bad news is…you kids have been exposed to a strong amount of radiation." Everyone, but Jango, gasped. "The nurse said it wasn't too serious and you will be perfectly fine, so long that you stay away from microwaves or anything else that causes radiation. Also, when I was looking over your scans, Jango's shown that he has the most radiation in his body and he was the least in pain than all of you."

"How is that possible?" Jamison asked.

Sphere started to speak, "Maybe Jango has some sort of virus or disease."

Zangoose gave him a look. "Come on kid, there is no way that is-"

"He's not totally wrong." Everyone turned their gazes over to Jango, who was currently looking at his feet.

"What do you mean Jango?" Flower asked.

"I don't want to talk about it. Too many painful memories." He said slightly depressed.

Sense their beds were pretty close, Amanda sat up, scooted towards Jango, and took his paws in her paws. "Jango, please. I'm worried about you. You've been here for at least two days and I know already that something is bugging you. Today was proof enough that you are hiding something. Please tell me what's wrong. I want to help you." She pleaded.

If it weren't for his red skin, Amanda would have noticed the large blush on Jango's face. His heart was beating faster than normal and he had a hard time concentrating. _Yeah, I defiantly love her._ He thought. She was right though, Jango has been keeping secrets for awhile and after everything that happened, he did own everyone an explanation.

He sighed. "Okay…here it goes." He let go of Amanda and cleared his throat. "The thing is…there is an evil power inside of me from ancient times that causes deadly destruction." Everyone stared at him in silence. Suddenly, they heard David laughing like a mad man.

"Oh man, you got to be kidding me." He said through his laughter. He laughed awhile longer, but when he saw the serious look on Jango, he stopped immediately. "Oh, you were serious."

"This isn't some joke David. Do you realize that I could have murdered you?" Jango growled. David was about to say something, but shut his mouth either from not knowing how to respond or out of fear from the deadly glare from Jango. He continued, "Anyway, ever sense I was born, I have been harboring an ancient curse that started ever sense the Dark Ages. A curse known as the Hidden Blaze."

"Wait a minute!" Flower suddenly shouted. "I remember now. Amanda, before school ended, do you remember what we learned in history class?"

Amanda was starting to think, then she gasped in realization. "Yeah, our teacher was teaching us about those ancient myths from ancient times." Her eyes widen in fear. "Does that mean that the curse is real?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Jango said. "During the Dark Ages, Fire Lizard Valley was nothing more than just dirt and rock. The villagers were going through tough times trying to live on the food they had at the time. At the center of the valley was a large volcano that was thought to be dormant. That was their biggest mistake. The volcano erupted in lava and sulfur, slowly killing off the villagers.

"One brave Charizard, however, did not want to see the valley die. So he traveled to the top of the volcano to see if there was away to stop it. As soon as he got to the top, he started to speak to the heavens, asking the Legendaries to stop the madness that was spreading over the land. The one who answered his call was Ho-oh, the Legendary Phoenix himself. The Charizard pleaded with Ho-oh to stop the volcano from destroying the village. Ho-oh said there was a way to stop the volcano, but it came with a price. The Charizard agreed to the terms.

"Ho-oh, using its god-like powers, drained the volcano of its energy, slowly cooling the lava and cleaning the air in the process. The Charizard thanked Ho-oh for his help. Ho-oh then explained that the volcano was corrupted by an evil spirit that once tried to take over the Hall of Origins, but was quickly defeated and banished into the underworld. Ho-oh asked the Charizard to bond with the creature to keep its power under control. As soon as he agreed, the energy of the volcano was absorbed into him.

"Soon after, he went into a Meltdown Phase, the one you all obviously witness today by me. However, he learned of a way to control that power and used the Hidden Blaze's to replenish the lands of the valley. To thank him, they named the valley Fire Lizard Valley. The curse doesn't stop there, however. Every time the first child of a family is born, which is related to that Charizard, will be given the curse. I'm an only child and related to that Charizard, meaning I have the curse now." Jango finished. He looked at everyone's reaction.

Sphere was both intrigued and scared by the story. Flower's mouth was wide open in shock. Even David had a hard time with this sudden news. Zangoose's eyes were wide open with shock. Jamison kept a calm look, but Jango could tell he didn't take the news well either. Ampharos was heavily breathing into a bag to calm his nerves. As for Amanda, she looked at Jango with a mix of concern, curiosity, and fear.

"Hold on," Sphere said as he finally got out of his shock, "when you attacked Flower and I, the flames around us were doing as much pain and suffering to us equally."

Jango sighed. "That was unstable underworld fire you both were hit with. It kills no matter what it hits." Sphere and Flower gulped nervously.

Amanda gave him a questionable look. "Jango, didn't you say there was a way to control it?"

"Yeah, just one small problem. My dad never told me how to control it, ever sense the…incident." Jango eyes started to water. "Mom, Dad, why couldn't things have work out differently?" He whispered to himself.

"Jango, what's wrong?" Amanda reached for him, but he turned his back at her. He started to make sobbing sounds. "Jango, please tell me what's wrong."

Tears rolled down Jango's face. "I'm…an orphan." Everyone, except David who merely scoffed, gasped.

"You…don't have parents?" Jango merely nodded. "How did it happen?"

Despite being upset, he was willing to explain, "It all started when I was five years old…"

_FLASHBACK_

_Jango was walking home from a friends house, happily humming a little tune. "I can't wait to get home. Mom said she is going to take me out to lunch and Dad is going to teach me how to play baseball. I just hope I don't hit another window again." He laughed at the sweet memory._

_He turned at a clearing and gasped at his house. Or what was left of it. The house has been almost completely demolished and was barely standing. It erupted in flames and burned the near by grass. It gave off a strong smoke that touched the atmosphere of the sky. Every item in the house was turned to ash._

_Jango watched this with great difficulty. He watched as the fire can be seen reflected from his eyes. He stared at the house for what felt like an eternity. His eyes watered as he kept looking at the destruction before him. He shook his head repeatedly, hoping this was nothing more than a bad dream. But every time he tried, he saw the exact same thing._

_He started to whimper before saying, "Mom, Dad, where are you?" He stared at the ground, letting the tears fall from his face._

_His sobbing only ceased for a moment when he heard a sound. It sounded like a struggle. Out of the trees that surrounded the once standing house came Jango's mother, Sandra, flying through the air and hitting her back against a tree painfully. She grunted as she clutched a bleeding wound on her side._

_Jango gasped. "Mommy, are you okay?" He rushed over to help her._

_Sandra gasped in shock. "Jango, what are you doing home early?"_

"_Terry's mom said I had to leave because he had a dentist appointment. But, what happen to you? And where's Dad? I'm scared." Jango hugged his mother and cried on her chest._

_Sandra pulled him away gently and said, "Jango, it isn't safe here. You need to get as far away from here as possible."_

"_But…what is going on?" He asked terrified._

"_Jango, your life is in danger. You need to run." She pleaded._

_Just then, Jango's dad, Herbert, flew out of the forest but landed safer. His eyes and wings were radiating in flames. A harsh red aura surrounded him as he stared angrily at someone exiting the forest. _

_He was wearing a tattered, brown cloak that covered his face and most of his body. He clutched his fist with fury. "Give me that child, so that I may have his power for my own."_

"_If you want it so much then why not take mine?" Herbert asked as his aura intensified. _

"_Your Hidden Blaze has grown older over the years. But that child's energy will prove useful and more powerful. Now give him to me." The hooded figure shouted in anger._

"_Hate to bum you out, but my son is far, far away from here and you'll never find him." Herbert then turned to see his injured wife and his scared, not-suppose-to-be-here, son. He face-palmed. "Dang nabbit."_

"_So that's your son. Come here kid, I won't hurt…yet." The hooded figure advanced over to Jango._

"_Stay away from my son!" Herbert summoned a blazing fire ball and threw it at him. He skillfully dodged it without a scratch. The figure ran towards Jango._

"_He…is…mine!" He shouted as he thrust his claws straight at Jango. Sandra blocked the path and was painfully stabbed through her chest. Sandra gasped at the shockwave of pain she received._

"_Mommy, NO!" Jango screamed in agony._

"_J…Jan…Jango." She said with the last of her breath as the figure pulled his claws out of her and she fell to her knees and collapsed to the ground. Her eyes were shut and there wasn't any life in her anymore._

"_SANDRA, NO! YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS MURDERER!" Herbert erupted in anger as the flames and aura intensified to their outer most limits and he violently tackled the murderer and sent him flying through eight trees and two boulders._

"_Mommy, please, please wake up, please." Jango begged frantically as tears were falling hard from his face._

"_Jango, I'm sorry but…she is dead." Herbert said gently. This caused Jango to cry even harder pound his fists on the ground. Herbert looked over to see that the figure was slowly getting up. "Jango, you need to run, now."_

"_But…I don't want to lose you too." Jango sobbed out._

"_You'll never lose me son. I'll always be there for you…and I'll always be here, in your heart." He poked Jango's chest where his heart should be. This made him calm down a bit. "And always remember this…The love that people give you is the strength we need to fight on. Always remember that, trust me." Herbert finished._

_Jango nodded and gave his dad a heart warming hug, which he happily reciprocated. "I'll miss you Daddy." He released the hug and ran as far away as he can._

_Jango kept running farther and farther and farther from the burning forest as he tried to find somewhere to hide. He didn't dare look back at the destruction and forced himself to just keep running._

_He continued to run until something, or someone. Jango looked up and recoiled in fright as it was the hooded figure from before. "I must admit kid. You put me through a lot of trouble just to get hold of you. And your dad put up quite a fight. Too bad that his fighting days are over now, and his ability to breathe." Jango started to whimper and shut his eyes. "Don't worry kid, as soon as I'm done extracting that power from you, you'll be able to see your family again. Course though, part of the trip is considered painful."_

_Jango fell over and started to crawl backwards away from the killer. "Leave me alone." The figure started to move forward. "Please leave me alone." He cried. The figure still advanced forward. "Pleases, I mean it." The figure slowly reached down to grab his neck. "I said…__**LEAVE ME ALONE!"**__ Jango erupted in flames and they quickly expanded, destroying everything and everyone._

"_That…power." The figure said in awe as the flames hit him too._

_The flames started to engulf the entire valley. The flames eradicated trees, rocks, plants, and all life inhabiting it. The flames erupted towards the sky for a few seconds before the valley exploded into ash and sulfur._

_FLASHBACK END_

Jango shuddered as he finished. "When I awoke, the valley was turned to ash and dust. There was no sign of life anywhere in the valley. I was found the next day and taken to an orphanage to live the rest of my life until someone adopted me. But word spread quickly that I was the one who caused the fire. The kids would threaten me and pick on me all the time. Parents were afraid of me and thought I could have killed them. Four years later of torment and rejection, I decided to escape and live the rest of my life alone. Life for me was hard."

Everyone, even David, was incredibly shock by what Jango had to go through for most of his life. But the one who was greatly shocked was Amanda. She happens to know what it is like to lose someone close to you. She would have been even more depressed if anything happened to her dad.

She couldn't take it anymore as she lunged at Jango and hugged him comfortably. "Jango, I'm so sorry that ever happened to you. I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that pain and suffering. I promise you that you'll never go through that kind of pain ever again. I'll never let anyone harm you, I'll never let go through that depression again, and I'll never hate you no matter what the reason."

Jango was shocked by the hug and kind words. He started to relax to the hug and blushed a bit. He started to hug her back as well. "Thank you Amanda. You don't know how much that means to me. Do you really mean all of that?"

"Every word." She said gently.

Everyone stared at the scene in awe. Ampharos was tearing up a bit and blew into a tissue. The only one that didn't find this heart warming was David. "That little freak. I'm going to-" He was interrupted when a Leech Seed hit him and wrap around his mouth. Instead of draining his energy, it tightened around his mouth to shut him up. He mumbled in anger and glared at Flower.

"Hey, I don't want you ruining a happy moment, especially one this sweet." She whispered harshly at him. He mumbled something and lay back down. Everyone just enjoyed the moment between Jango and Amanda.

They finally realized that everyone was watching and quickly separated, blushing hard.

"Alright you two, if you're done now, I'm going to take all you home now." Ampharos said with a slight chuckle.

Everyone got up and walked out the door, with David frantically mumbling 'Can some please remove these vines around my mouth now?' When no one even bothered looking, he sighed in defeat and just decided to remove them at home. 


	12. Second Chance

The rest of the day was rather quiet. Ampharos dropped off Sphere, Flower, and David at their homes. It took him awhile to try explaining why they were so banged up to their parents without mentioning Jango's power. He said that they were caught in a freak fire at the park because of a grill that fell over and, in a state of panic, they were running away not paying attention to where they were going. Luckily, they bought it.

Back at the castle, Ampharos, Zangoose, and Jamison were still a bit shaken from the disaster. They were just glad that the kids were okay.

But they were worried about Jango. Ever sense they got home, he started acting distant from everyone. He didn't come down for dinner and he refuses to talk to anybody. They think that after what happened at the park, Jango was blaming himself for putting everyone in danger. They were wishing that he would try and feel better soon.

"Jango needs to get over it. None of that was his fault." Zangoose said.

"Still, he should have told us about that power of his before we entrusted him with Amanda." Jamison pointed out. "In my opinion, Jango could be a threat to her safety."

"That isn't entirely true." Ampharos said. The two look at him in confusion. "From what Jango said in that story, it is possible that power like that could become a major focus to some Pokémon who could use it for evil purposes. He probably just didn't want someone taking him away like he was a science experiment."

"That may be true, but what about Amanda?" Jamison asked.

"The curse takes affect when he is in a state of unimaginable rage. If he would stay reasonably calm and not get too enraged, he will be okay to take care of Amanda."

"I guess you got a point there." Jamison said.

"Speaking of Amanda, where is she exactly?" Zangoose wondered.

"She went to go find Jango and give him his dinner. She said she was going to try and cheer him up." Ampharos frowned and looked up at the ceiling. "I hope he feels better soon. There's something about him that makes me feel like I'm well protected."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jango sat on a bench on the rooftop garden as he was looking at the night sky. Jango had bandages around his arms still, but they should come off soon. There was a cool breeze coming in from the distance. The stars shined brightly on top of the land. The moon gave off a luminescent glow. It was truly a beautiful night. But this didn't cheer Jango up the slightest bit.

Ever sense they got back from the hospital, Jango has been replaying that same scene from the park in his head. He saw how the park was almost in ashes and how he nearly killed all those Pokémon. He wouldn't even do something that devastating to David and he was a jerk. Jango never wanted that power to be unleashed ever again and he wished he could just rid himself of it.

But what really stung in his heart was the sight of Amanda slowly dying because of him. He knew that if Amanda was in contact with him for too long that she would be caught in the Underworld Flames. So part of him was trying to keep her away without touching her. He never wanted her to get killed because of him, even if it was his mission in the first place. He felt that losing Amanda would send him into the same traumatic experience that he went through at the lost of his parents. The thought made him sigh depressingly.

Sometimes he wished he were never born. That way no one would have to die because of him. Now he has to watch the ones closes to him suffer. He thought Amanda might be secretly scared of him now. He could understand why considering he was technically a monster whose soul purpose is to eliminate life from existence.

He heard the door to the garden creak open. He turned his head a bit to see it was Amanda. She was looking better, but was still wearing some bandages on her torso and head. She had a warming smile and was holding a plate of spaghetti. "Hey, how you feeling?" Jango turned his head away and looked at the sky. Amanda walked over and sat on the bench. "Um, I brought you some food. It's cold but I guess you could warm it up yourself." She said with a nervous chuckle. Jango didn't bother looking and stared in the opposite direction. _Well, this is awkward._ Amanda thought.

Jango didn't want to talk to anybody, even Amanda. He didn't want to bring up the disaster at the park. He just wanted to be left alone and try to process his thoughts.

Amanda set the plate aside and looked at the night sky. "It sure is beautiful outside. I would always come out here to watch the sky and clear my thoughts of all troubles." She sighed at the peaceful sight.

Jango managed to steal a glance at her. He thought she looked beautiful in the moonlight. But the thought made him rather upset. He looked away again. _I'm growing too attached to her now. I don't want her to be in peril._ "Amanda…you should probably stay away from me."

Amanda looked at him in confusion. "How come?"

Jango sighed. "If you were to be near me, there's a chance you may get hurt…or worse." His eyes watered up, but he refused to cry. "I just don't want to take that chance."

"Jango, I thought we settled this at the hospital. And believe it or not, but I can take care of myself. You have nothing to worry about."

Jango massaged his head. "Amanda, you saw what I was capable of doing back there and that was only from being ticked off. Imagine the catastrophes if you were seriously hurt. My power is based off emotion." He stared at the ground depressingly. "I'm a monster."

"NO, YOU'RE NOT!" Amanda yelled, making Jango flinch in fright. "You're not a monster; you are just different from everyone. It's not like you wanted to destroy everything in the park. You didn't have any control over the Hidden Blaze. It wasn't your fault and it never will be, so just get over it."

Jango recovered from the shouting and sighed. "It isn't that simple. I need to learn how to control this power. Sense I never learned how to or even tried to figure it out, it is my fault."

"Jango," She said with a calmer tone, "you just never had time to try and figure it out. The answer will come to you eventually." She scooted closer to Jango. "Besides, I don't like it when you are upset. I like it when you are having fun and trying to have the best time of your life. That's the Jango I want to see. Not some depressed lizard who is upset over a small accident he caused because he was trying to protect me." This made Jango let out a small chuckle.

"Yeah, guess you're right." He said with a small smile. "I just hate how I lose control like that. It makes it hard to keep a level head."

"Speaking of keeping a level head, what made you go berserk at the park anyway?" She asked curiously.

Jango nervously laughed and faintly blushed. "Oh, that. Um, I just, um, well, uh…didn't want David to make you go out with him…because it would upset me- I mean your father, yeah, it would upset him, that's why." He quickly corrected himself.

Amanda blushed a bit sense she heard him say that it would upset him and giggled when he quickly corrected himself. She looked at the wall clock. "It's getting late. I'm going to go video chat to see if Flower and Sphere are fine, then I'm heading to bed. Are you coming?"

Jango shook his head. "I'll come in later. I'm going to stay out here and think for awhile. You just get some sleep."

Amanda started to blush again. "Um, Jango?"

"Yeah?"

Amanda leaned in and gave Jango a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thanks for telling me the truth." Jango only nodded as he was turning a whole new shade of red in the face. Amanda gave a shy smile and said, "I'll see you in the morning. Good night." She got up and went back inside.

"Good night." Jango said almost quietly as she closed the door. Jango was completely dumbfounded, yet unbelievably elated. He looked at the spaghetti and picked it up. _I probably should eat before my joy and lack of food make me faint._ He blew a light Flamethrower on it and began to eat.

He ate the spaghetti in under two minutes, and then set the plate down. He looked up at the sky and sighed. "Mom, Dad, I don't if you can hear me, but I need your help. I don't know what to do. I really like Amanda and think she is an amazing girl. The problem is if she ever found out about my true background, my assassin life, I fear that she might hate me. I _have_ killed many Pokémon over the past six years.

"But I had no choice. Inferno took me in so I could learn to defend myself. He said that if I helped him carry out his plans, he would help me find the one who killed you guys. I thought it was a win-win in a way. But…now I don't know if I should go on. Over the years I've killed senators, businessmen, military officers, and members of the Pokémon Defense Force. Every time I kill someone, I feel my heart slowly being ripped to pieces each time. I wanted to stop, but I vowed to myself that I would find that murderer no matter what I had to do to find him.

"And to make things worse, I accidentally unleashed the Hidden Blaze all because I got angry and couldn't control my emotions. I'm glad that no one was killed, but I just exposed our family secret. I feel like my life is spiraling out of control and that I'm going to destroy everything. I just wish you guys were here. If you guys were still alive, I wouldn't have put everyone in danger, I wouldn't have killed all those Pokémon in the past, and…I would still have you guys. So please, if you can hear me, give me a sign on what I should do. Show me exactly how I can correct my mistakes. Show me…that you still love and care about me." Jango finished and started to cry. He let the tears fall from his face, not caring who saw him if anyone were to enter the garden. He just wanted his parents back.

He felt something soft rub against his face. He took a quick look at it. A tissue. He looked over to who was holding it and wasn't surprised that it was his old pal Chromo. "You might want to dry those tears of yours. Crying can occasionally affect your sleep." He said as he gave the tissue to Jango.

He took it and wiped his face. "I guess you heard all of that, huh?" Chromo nodded. Jango sighed. "You have no idea what I have been going through Chromo."

"I probably do, but let's change the subject for a bit." He sat down next to Jango and stretched his wings. "So, did my prediction of the future come true?" Jango flashed an annoyed look and stared at the ground.

"You were right. During that fight, I realized that I really liked Amanda because I didn't want her taken away from me. I saw how scared she looked when David was approaching her like that. What is with him anyway? The dude is as obsessive as a hoarder. I swear, if he scares Amanda like that again, I'm going to-"

"-not finish that sentence because I'm not in the mood to hear you make death threats." Chromo interrupted. "Look Jango, you shouldn't be so cruel. Pokémon do things for certain reasons and that's how life works. Pokémon are cruel, Pokémon are evil, and even have motives for killing." Chromo noticed that Jango lowered his head in depression. Chromo sighed. "You still miss your parents, do you?"

"I have no family, Chromo. I have no relatives that I know of, no uncles or aunts, no grandparents, just me. That's all there is left."

Chromo looked a little uneasy. "Jango, that isn't really true. You still do have family." Jango looked confused. "This…may be hard to believe…but you do have a family still. The thing is, now…brace yourself, I'm your dad's brother."

"What!?" Jango's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. He was so shocked that he actually fell off the bench and landed on his head. He jumped back up off the ground and stuttered out, "Y-you are m-m-m-my un-un-un-uncle?!"

"Well, blood related, not really. I'm actually your dad's adopted brother."

"Adopted? Did something happen to your family or something?" Jango asked in mild shock.

"No, they are fine. It's just that, well…let me explain. It all started back during a raging thunderstorm…"

_FLASHBACK (Chromo's P.O.V.)_

_I was flying with my flock when I was only a small Natu. There was this deadly storm coming in, so we were trying to fly back to our home._

_But considering how young I was, I was scared of the lightning. It was knocking down trees and starting small fires. One of the strikes hit a tree that knocked me to the ground. I tried flying, but my wings were too damaged to fly. My flock tried desperately to get to me, but the winds were far too strong for them to fly back. They said they would come back for me immediately after the storm subsides._

_I started to hide in a log to try and protect myself from the harsh elements. You wouldn't believe how scared I was. The lightning strikes were beyond intense. They were destroying dozens of trees. Many of the locals that lived around the area were rushing back to their homes where it was safe. I wanted to ask for help, but I was too scared to speak a single syllable._

_That's when a Charmeleon stopped and saw me in the log. The young Charmeleon came over to me and crouched down to look at me. "Hey little guy, what are you doing in there? It is too dangerous to be out here alone. Where is your family?" I started to whimper about the safety of my family. The Charmeleon seemed to understand, so he started to pick me up. "Don't worry little guy, I'll take you back to my home where it is safe." He started to run, with me in his arms, to his home._

_The Charmeleon eventually made it to his house and brought me inside. In the kitchen was a female Charizard washing some dishes. I instantly realized that was his mother. She turned to greet her son. "Oh, hello Herbert. I'm glad you managed to get out of that dreadful storm." She then saw me in his arms. "Herb, why do you have that Natu with you?"_

"_I found him stranded in the storm. I didn't want him to get hurt, so I brought him over until the storm passes. Would you mine if he stays with us until his family comes looking for him." Herb pleaded. I was surprised by his generosity. No one has ever done something that nice for me in my life._

_His mother started to think, then said, "I don't mine at all. Just make sure he is comfortable." His mother then realized something. "Herb, what exactly is his name?"_

_Herbert stared blankly for a minute before face-palming. "I never even asked." He held me up so we were looking at each other. "Hey little guy, what is your name?"_

_I was a little shy to talk at the time sense I never met him. But I did introduce myself. "I'm…Ch-Chromo."_

"_Chromo? That's a weird name. But it sounds pretty cool." He started to take me upstairs. "Come on, let's get you to a room where you can get some sleep."_

_The storm lasted for at least five days. During that period of time, I grew quite attached to your father. We did fun games with each other, watched movies together, and ate boat loads of ice cream. He would always bring me breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We played some videogames. Of course, though, they were those old fashion ones and I was too young to know how to work them. Despite that, I was having a great time._

_The day the storm finally cleared, we were playing some catch. I was having a hard time actually catching the ball, but I eventually got the hang of it. Then, we saw shadows flying above us. As they were descending, I recognized them as ten Xatu and four Natu. More specifically, my family._

"_Chromo, your okay." An old Xatu said we his wings spread. I ran up to him and gave him a hug, which he returned. "We were so worried about you." He glanced over at Herbert. "Thank you for saving and caring for our young one. I hope he was not a bother."_

_Herbert shook his head. "He wasn't a problem. He was actually really fun to be with."_

"_Well that's good. Come along Chromo, time to get back to the nest." They were about to take off, but I didn't move. "Chromo, aren't you coming?"_

_I looked back at Herbert with a sad expression. I really developed a special bond towards him. I felt empty just thinking about it. I ran towards him and hugged him tightly. "I don't want to leave Herbert." I started to cry on him._

_He started to pat my head. "Chromo, what about your family?"_

"_You're my family." I said through a sob. He looked quite upset himself. I knew he didn't want me to leave, but he knew it was the right thing to do._

_That's when the old Xatu stepped forward. "Herbert, was it?" He nodded. "I have a proposition for you." He looked interested. "How about you let Chromo stay with you." Herbert gasped in surprised and I gasped in joy._

"_Really, are you sure? How would his parents feel?"_

"_The Xatu clan acts as one whole family. If one of us is down or upset, all of us help. We believe that parents can't always help in some situations, not that they are bad to have. We believe that after the kindness you obviously gave to Chromo, he should stay with you."_

_Herbert hugged the old Xatu. "Thank you." He released and picked me up._

"_We will come by time to time to see how he is." With that, the flock started to fly off to a distant area._

"_Well, let's go in and tell the good news…little brother." I hugged him as we went inside to start are new future with each other._

_FLASHBACK END (Normal P.O.V.) _

Chromo stared at the stars. "We were the best of friends ever sense. When he was entering college, I was given a letter of recommendation to go to a school where I can harness by seeing into the future to watch over the time stream. It has been a great job. That is…before I saw your future."

Jango covered his face. "Why am I not surprised?" He put his paws down and stared at Chromo. "How did my parents react?"

"They had a mix of fear and hope." Chromo said simply.

Jango was baffled. "Hope?! I destroyed an entire park from just walking. What part of that is hope?"

"When you were born, your parents saw something inside you that everyone in your family was hoping to find- the one who will break the curse."

Jango was bewildered. "Come again?"

"You had more power then anyone in your family tree. They believed that you, dear Jango, are the Phoenix Child, the one that possessed the original power of Ho-oh."

Jango couldn't take it anymore. "That's impossible." He yelled out. "The Phoenix child is the one who is suppose to be able to destroy all evil within the Hidden Blaze for all generations to come. That couldn't be me."

"Jango, your parents saw real potential in you. That's why they always told you to look for the perfect challenge. They feel that when you find someone who matches your strength, the Hidden Blaze's true nature will be revealed. They told me to watch over you, but not interact with you. They wanted me to see how much you developed if anything were to happen to them."

Jango sighed. "Well look at me now. I'm a wanted fugitive who is undercover trying to kill a princess, who I developed feelings for, so that an organization full of killers can take over this kingdom. Yeah, I say that life is great for me." He said sarcastically.

Chromo put a wing around him. "So just stay here. If 'Draco' doesn't appear for awhile, they'll think 'he' is dead. You could have a second chance and try to live your life the way you want."

"But, what about-"

"Inferno." Chromo interrupted. "It's like he said. None of his top assassins could get in here. So he can't. You are safe here and you always will be." Chromo got up and stretched his wings. "Live life and be with the girl of your dreams." He then started to glow.

Jango immediately got up. "Wait!" Chromo stared in curiosity. Jango smiled. "Thanks…Uncle Chromo."

Chromo smirked. "Uncle? It's going to be awhile before I'm use to that." He finally disappeared.

Jango kept smiling even after he left. _I still have a family._ He grabbed his dinner plate and went inside. He put the plate in the kitchen sink and went to his room. When he was passing by Amanda's room, he heard what sounded like soft yelling.

_Amanda did say she would be chatting with the others, but why is she yelling?_ Jango was tempted to go in, but he felt that it probably wasn't his business anyway. He started to walk towards his room. _Besides, it's not like they are talking about me._

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"No, it is not true."

Amanda, Sphere, and Flower were talking about everything that happened earlier ago. Sphere and Flower were recovering well. Anyway, Flower mentions what happened at the hospital and it was making Amanda a little jumpy. Maybe that's the wrong term to use. How about, unbelievably embarrassed.

"I saw how you looked when you were hugging Jango. Admit it; you have a crush on him." Flower said trying to pry it out of her.

"For the last time, I don't have a crush on Jango." She was trying to keep her voice low some she wouldn't alarm anyone who may pass her room.

Sphere was laughing and started singing, "Jango and Amanda sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G." Amanda was blushing like crazy and covered her face with her wool. Flower look at Sphere oddly. "Hey, I don't have that many guy friends. Did you expect me to say something else?"

Flower turned her attention back to Amanda, who was still hiding herself. "Oh Amanda, so you have a crush on him. It's nothing to be a shame of." She heard her mumble something through her wool, no doubt 'I don't have a crush on him.' Flower shook her head. "Amanda, if you admit it, we promise we won't say anything about it to anyone. Right, Sphere?"

"Well, I could tell a few of my friends or maybe-" Flower glared at him. Sphere sighed. "I won't say anything about it."

Amanda pulled herself out her wool and looked around her room to make sure no one was around. She also looked under her door to make sure no one was eavesdropping. When she felt no one was around, she went back to her desk and put her head set back on. "Okay. I…have a crush on Jango."

Flower let out a loud squeal that made Sphere take off his head set. "I knew it, I knew it, I knew it. For how long?"

Amanda blushed. "When we first met. I thought he looked really cute, he makes me really happy, and he…makes my heart flutter when we're close." She shyly said.

"Forget crushing on him, you are in love with him." Sphere said. His eyes widened and then narrowed. "I seriously need to spend some time with Jango."

Amanda giggled. Flower then started to speak again. "So, are you ever going to tell him?"

"I don't know. He's a great friend and all, but I doubt he likes me like that."

"Oh don't worry about, I'm sure he does like." Flower then smiled deviously. "But I could play matchmaker if you want."

Amanda blushed again. "Please don't."

Flower shrugged. "Suit yourself. I got to go to bed. Night." Her connection went out.

"Yeah, I'm going to bed myself. See ya later." Sphere side went out as well.

Amanda turned off her computer and went to bed. Before she went to sleep, she had a smile on her face. _I'm hope Flower is right. I really hope Jango really likes me back._ When she was just about to drift off, Jango was thinking the exact same thing as Amanda was before he drifted off. _I love you, Amanda/Jango._ Jango and Amanda thought respectively as they were finally asleep.


	13. Some Sort of Date

It has been two days sense the fire at the park. King Ampharos hired a team of Grass-type Pokémon to help rejuvenate the park back to its lush, green color. He also hired some other Pokémon to fix the swing sets, slides, seesaw, etc. He even had to explain the cause of everything to the locals, who were concern for their safety. Anyone who was at the park either blacked out and couldn't remember what happened or were sworn to not speak of what happened.

Amanda called Altaria to see if the kids got back safely. She had to get someone to bring them back there while they were escaping. Fortunately, they were all brought back with no trouble.

Jango has been helping out at the park to clean up anything that ranged from ashes to melted benches. He no longer felt guilty of everything that happened, thanks to Amanda's little pep talk. He felt a lot happier now that he didn't need to hide his secret power from his friends (or David, who probably is going to keep his distance from him).

During the morning, Amanda was reading a newspaper about recent events and she wasn't shocked to find the article that read 'Unexplained Fire'. Her dad said it was just an accident with a grill, but newspaper editors found the disaster unlikely to be caused by a mere grill. She simply rolled her eyes and read a different article.

Her burns, along with everyone else's, have managed to heal quickly and the radiation they had has gone away as well. Jango made a promise to try and keep his anger down so that wouldn't happen again. Ampharos, however, was still a little concerned, but he trusted him anyway.

Speaking of Jango, he entered the kitchen and started to pour himself some cereal and milk. "Morning, Amanda."

"Morning, Jango." Amanda said cheerily. "How are you doing?"

"Not bad. I'm going to the park later to clean any left over debris. That's pretty much my schedule for today." He brought his cereal over to the table and began to eat. "You got anything planned?" He asked after he swallowed his food.

"I don't really have anything to do today. I was going to see if Sphere or Flower wanted to hangout, but they can't."

"How come?"

"Sphere got grounded for throwing water balloons at his neighbor and Flower's mom took her to some sort of fancy party full of stuck up, rich Pokémon, much to her disappointment. She won't be back until ten at night."

Jango had a confused look. "Who has a party in the morning and ends it at night?"

"Apparently stuck up, rich Pokémon." They both let out a small laugh. "Well I hope you have fun later. I'm going to go read or something." She started to leave the kitchen.

While she was, Jango was rapidly tapping his claws on the table as if he wanted to say something. He struggled for a bit, but he blurted out, "Wait, I need to ask you something."

Amanda was surprised by the sudden outburst, but replied, "Uh, what do you want to ask?"

Jango stood up and walked over to her. "Well, we're good friends, right?" Amanda nodded as if the answer was obvious. "You see…I kind of feel like that we don't know a lot about each other."

"I know that you turn into a reactor when you lose your cool." Amanda joked. Jango laughed quietly at the joke.

"Yeah, I know. But what I mean is that there is probably so much that we don't know about each other." Jango took in a deep breath and blushed a little. "What I'm asking is…is that maybe we should hangout sometime later."

Amanda stared with wide eyes and was blushing very deeply. "Are you…asking me out on a date?"

Jango's eyes widen. _Oh man, I didn't want her to think it was a date._ "Not like a date…more like a, um, friendly outing. Just two friends…hanging out…alone...as friends."

"Oh, okay, that makes sense." Despite this, Amanda wished it was like a date. But a friendly outing would make things less awkward than a date. "Well, I don't know…"

"It won't be anything special. We could go to a pizza place if you want." Jango _almost_ pleaded.

Amanda was in deep thought about it. She tapped her paw on her head for a minute or so, then she said, "I would love to go with you."

"REALLY?!" He exclaimed happily, but calmed himself. "I mean…really?" He said more casually.

"Yeah, I think it would be a great way to get to know each other better." She said cheerfully. "So, what time?"

"How about around six o'clock?"

"Sounds perfect, I can't wait." She left the kitchen. As soon as she left, Jango breathed a sigh of relief.

"Phew, that was hard to do." Then realization hit him like a ton of bricks. "Wait a minute, WHAT AM I SUPPOSE TO DO ON A DATE-or friendly outing in this case?"

Amanda was having similar problems as she walked to the living room. "I never been on a date before, what am I suppose to do? Granted, it isn't technically a date, but still." Amanda started to massage her head and got an idea. "Maybe I should get some advice about this. But from who?"

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"Oh man, that is so awesome!" Flower squealed.

Amanda decided to call Flower because she knew a lot more about this type of stuff than she did. But Flower was overreacting, _a lot._ "Flower, I told you it is not a date. Jango and I are just going to hang out."

"At a pizza parlor? With the two of you alone? Yeah, sounds like a typical hangout." Flower said sarcastically. "Amanda, just admit it, you're going on a date."

"It isn't a date." Amanda said sternly.

"And you called me why?" Flower asked mock suspiciously.

_Okay, she got me there._ "Look, I just don't know what to do. Sure we were alone a few other times, but now we'll be in one place for who knows how long."

"Look you shouldn't even worry about it. You're going to be just-" There was a pause on her connection. "MOM, STOP SHOWING MY BABY PICTURES!" She yelled loudly.

Amanda chuckled. "What was that all about?"

"My mom is embarrassing me, that's what. Every time she takes me to these stupid parties, she keeps showing guys my baby pictures. I really need to confiscate that book from her." Amanda was now laughing her head off and could tell that Flower was glaring at her. "Oh shut up."

"Sorry, sorry." Amanda started to calm down. "Anyway, back to my problem."

"Right," Flower started to get back on track, "you're going to be fine. But, if you really want to catch his eye, you could dress up a bit, maybe a little makeup, and try to start a conversation with him. Then you pay a guy to come in and play the violin to create a romantic tension."

Amanda narrowed her eyes. "Dressing up is fine, I don't really wear makeup, and conversation is good. But I'm not paying someone to randomly come in and start playing the violin."

"Hey, it works in the movies." Amanda sighed. "Alright, look, if you have any problems on your date-I mean 'friendly outing'-just make up an excuse to leave and call me."

"Okay, I'll _probably_ call you later. Bye." Amanda ended the call and laid on the couch. "I wonder how Jango is reacting about all of this." Amanda let out a small chuckle. "Oh who am I kidding? When Jango's not worked up, he can be relatively mellow."

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Jango was anything but mellow right now.

"Oh man, what am I going to do? I've never been on a date-I mean…oh, I just don't know what it is anymore. What do you think I should do?"

Jango was talking to Sphere on the phone. At first, Jango was surprised that Sphere even had his phone sense he was grounded, but he seemed to have hid it from his parents. "Jango, I have two questions. First, what are you talking about and second, how did you get my number?" Jango really didn't explain anything when he called. All he did was yell in frustration.

"Look, I'm going to tell you something so secretive that you can't tell anyone, especially Amanda. You got it?"

"Yeah dude, my lips are sealed." Sphere proved his point by making a zipper closing sound.

"Okay, here it goes." Jango took in a deep breath. "I…have a crush on Amanda." If it weren't for the fact they were talking on phones, Jango would have noticed the surprised look on Sphere's face. "Um, are you still there?"

"What?" Sphere said as he snapped out of his surprised daze. "Oh yeah, I'm here. And don't worry about your secret. It'll be safe with me." _That is until I tell Flower about this._ He snickered quietly so Jango-or his parents (They would kill him if they found out he had his cell phone)-wouldn't hear him.

"Right…so anyway, I asked Amanda to hangout with me and, well, I'm not entirely sure on what I should do."

"Well there's your problem, you're asking me for advice."

"What?" Jango was confused on what he meant, then snapped his claws. "Oh, you're saying that I should try to figure this out for myself, right?"

It took awhile for Sphere to reply back. "Uh, yeah, that's what I totally meant. Definitely not that I have absolutely no romantic experience." He laughed nervously. "Well, I got to go. Later." The call ended and Jango putted his phone down.

"Well, I did learn one thing from his advice." Jango gets up and goes to his closet. "Never ask him for dating advice ever again."

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Jango was at the front hall mirror checking himself to see if he looked nice. He didn't dress up too much. He was wearing an unzipped, white jacket and his gemstone necklace he got from the mall. He seemed satisfied by the way he looked. Now he just needed to wait for Amanda.

As he turned around, he saw King Ampharos standing not too far away. "Jango, while I did hire you to make sure that Amanda is safe and sound, I just need to say something about this 'date' of yours." Jango did not like where this was going. Ampharos walked over to him. "IF YOU TWO ARE NOT BACK BY MIDNIGHT, YOU WILL BE SENT TO PRISON FOR LIFE WITH THE KEY TO YOUR CELL AT THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?" He shouted with rage. Jango was frantically nodding his head. Ampharos then puts a paw on Jango's shoulder. "Sorry, I just always wanted to say that. Other then that, I hope you both have a wonderful time." He happily walks away while Jango was clutching his heart in fright.

_I know Amanda said he was a bit off, but that was just really freaky._ Jango shook it off and continued to wait for Amanda.

"Jeez, what was with all the shouting down here?" A voice said from upstairs. Jango looked up to see Amanda walking down. She, like him, wasn't all dressed up. She was wearing a purple shirt and a bright green jacket. It wasn't much, but Jango thought she looked nice.

"Your dad was giving me a warning while also nearly giving me a heart attack." Jango said casually.

Amanda giggled. "Yeah, sorry about that. The last guy who_ tried_ to ask me to go out with him had to feel the wrath of my dad. And by that, I mean he told Jamison to chase him out of the city." Jango gave an odd look. "Oh don't worry; he just chased him until he was out of my dad's sight. Jamison doesn't exactly agree with most of my dad's suggestions."

"You have one strange family Amanda."

"Hey, I should say the same thing about you." Amanda said with mock annoyance.

Jango laughed. "Okay, point taken. So, ready to go?"

"Yep; let's get going before my dad suggests we stay here and play a board game or something." With that, they left the castle and headed straight to the pizza parlor.

Back inside, Ampharos was on the phone. "Hello operator, how do I call a guy who is willing to spy on two kids for fifty dollars an hour?"

"I'm sorry, what?" The operator said.

"I said-" Before he could repeat himself, Jamison swipes the phone and puts it back on the receiver. "Hey, I was using that." Ampharos whined.

"Do you really want Amanda's first impression on her first date being that her father sent someone to spy on her?" Ampharos opened his mouth, but closed it and hung his head in shame. "That's what I thought." He then went back to his cleaning. Ampharos tried to pick up the phone again. "Don't touch the phone." He yelled at him without turning. Ampharos sighed and went to the kitchen to have dinner.

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Jango and Amanda walked to the parlor in silence. They were both feeling nervous, hoping that nothing was going to go wrong. They would occasionally sneak a glance at each other, but look away immediately. _How far away is that pizza parlor?_ They both thought, getting tired of the awkward atmosphere.

Fortunately, when they came around the corner of the sidewalk, the pizza parlor was right in their line of sight. They looked at each other and smiled, then started to head over. Jango opened the door for Amanda, trying to act like a gentleman. She giggled at his kindness and thanked him. They walked in and got a good look at the inside.

The walls were red with thick, green lines across them. The floors were a golden color and looked like they've been triple waxed. Light shades were hanging over the tables near the windows. There was a faint aroma of cooked peppers in the air.

A Machamp wearing a standard waiter's uniform walked over to the two friends. "Ah, welcome to The Pizza Palace, home of the most delicious pizza in the city. Table for how many?"

"Table for two, please." Jango said to the waiter.

"Ah, a lovely couple, you both are."

Jango and Amanda's eyes widen. "WAIT, SHE/HE IS NOT MY GIRLFRIEND/BOYFRIEND!" They looked at each other and blushed.

The Machamp chuckled. "Hehe, very well. Please follow me to your table." While still blushing from embarrassment, the two followed the waiter to their table…which was in the very back without anyone around. "Here is your table."

Jango was rapidly darting his eyes. "Um, aren't there anymore tables that are vacant _and_ not in the back of the parlor?" The waiter shook his head. Jango slightly cursed under his breath. _No doubt he did this on purpose._

Either way, Jango and Amanda sat themselves down. "What would you like to order?"

Jango was thinking real hard on what he wanted, then he got it. "Give us one large pizza. Make half of it pepperoni, bacon, sausage, anything you got that is meat. And what do you want on your half Amanda?"

"Um, I'll have pepperoni and green peppers on my half." Amanda said.

The waiter wrote it down. "Any drinks?"

"I'll have Sprite." Amanda said.

"Water will be nice." Jango requested.

"Okay; your meal should be ready in a half hour. Here are some breadsticks and sauces for appetizers." He placed them down on their table and left to start their order.

Jango and Amanda didn't talk for awhile. They would just keep their eyes off each other and try to think of a way to lessen the awkwardness. But they couldn't think of anything that could embarrass themselves. That's when Jango remembered why they were here in the first place.

"So Amanda…what is it like being royal, sense you are a princess and all?" Jango said hoping that would break the ice.

Amanda didn't expect that question, but answered anyway. "Well, it has its ups and downs. I get certain rights that others don't have and I have awesome friends. The downside is that some Pokémon only become my friend because I'm rich"

The very thought of that made Jango enraged, but kept his cool. "Well that's stupid. Who in the world would do something like that to someone as sweet and amazing as you?"

Amanda blushed at his compliment. "Well, when I started high school last year, I was trying out for cheerleading. I got in and I became great friends with the team. At least, I thought we were friends. A month after I got on the team, I over heard a conversation from the head cheerleader and the others. She said that she only let me on the team because I was rich. Then they started laughing thinking I was so stupid to not have realized that. I started to cry and ran home."

"That's terrible!" Jango said in complete shock. "What did you do?"

"_I_ didn't do anything. But once Flower and Sphere heard about it, they decided to get payback on them. I don't know exactly what they did, but next day I saw that the entire team drenched in green paint, glued to the wall with the word 'LOSERS' on their foreheads and they all had dunce caps glued to their head." Amanda chuckled. "You wouldn't believe how hard I was laughing. I then walked up to the head cheerleader, mocked her a bit, and quitted the team."

Jango chuckled. "Looks like Flower and Sphere had your back sense then."

"Are you kidding me? They were my first friend's sense elementary school. They didn't even care I was royalty. All they care about is always being there for me and having fun as well."

Jango took a bread stick and began to munch on it. "They kind of remind me of my pal, Terry. He was a Sneasel and I made friends with him on my first day of school. Even though we were young, we got into a whole mess of trouble. We were practically inseparable and had each others backs." Jango looked at his bread stick, which has now been reduced to a chunk.

Amanda saw his look. "You're upset because you killed him by accident from the Hidden Blaze's explosion."

"That's just it. I don't thing he or any of his family are dead. Terry' dad took his siblings to a basketball game while his mom took him to the dentist. The explosion only destroyed Fire Lizard Valley, so they were probably out of the blast zone. I just hope Terry is okay."

"Well, with that kind of logic, I'm sure he is fine." Jango smiled. "Anyway, pizza won't be for awhile so I'm going to the bathroom. Be back in a minute." Amanda got up and headed to the restroom.

Jango then started to think. _I wonder if I should do something else with her once we leave. But what? Maybe I should ask someone._ Jango pulled out his phone when a thought crossed him. _But who do I call? Definitely not Ampharos, Sphere won't be much help, Flower would probably freak out if I mention this, and I'm not too sure about Jamison. That just leaves…Zangoose._ With no better option, Jango called Zangoose and waited for him to pick up.

"_Hello?"_ Zangoose said.

"Hey it's me, Jango."

"_Oh hey, how is your date going?"_

"Why is everyone assuming it's a date?" Jango took in a breath. "Look, I want to do something else with Amanda, but I'm at a lost for ideas."

"_So why did you call me?"_

"I'm desperate and you were my last option."

"_Wow, I feel honored."_ Zangoose said sarcastically. _"Well, a movie is usually a good one. Does she have a favorite?"_

"Yeah, Pokémon Ninja Showdown. It's in that movie room."

"_I think I have an idea. Now listen carefully."_ The rest was inaudible, but Jango smiled at the idea.

"All right, thanks. We'll be back later." Just as he ended the call, the pizza finally came. And a short while after, Amanda came back.

"Sorry I took so long."

"Hey, no problem." Jango used a Dragon Claw to evenly slice the pizza. He took a plate and gave Amanda her piece. "Your pizza, your highness." Amanda blushed and giggled as she took the plate. Jango got his and started to eat. "Hey, I got an idea."

Amanda swallowed her pizza. "What kind of idea?"

"It's a secret, but it will all be worth it. It, however, requires us not to be seen by your dad."

Amanda eyed him suspiciously. "What are you getting at?"

"We're just going to have a little fun when we get back to the castle." Jango started to chuckle making Amanda more suspicious.

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"How is this fun?!" Amanda screamed.

"It's fun for me." Jango said nonchalantly.

When they got back to the castle, Jango said they weren't going to use the front door. Instead, Jango made Amanda hold on to him and, the next thing she knew, he was scaling up the walls to her room.

"How are you even sticking to the walls?" Amanda asked in both curiosity and fright.

"Same way I scale caves, with my claws." He showed off his claws to prove his point. "Don't worry, we're almost there." He then noticed her expression. "You aren't afraid of heights, are you?"

"What, oh of course not." Amanda said with a nervous smile. "I'm just afraid of plummeting from an incredibly high altitude." She gulped at the thought.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine. As long as you're holding on to me, you won't fall." Amanda was reluctant to nod her head. After a few more minutes, they reached the balcony. "Ladies first." Jango helped Amanda over the railing of the balcony. As soon as she was over, he jumped over it with ease.

"Well, that was…interesting." Amanda needed to catch her breath. "Is there a particular reason why we had to climb up the walls instead of just using the front door?"

"So your dad doesn't bother us while were watching the movie."

Amanda became confused. "What movie?"

Jango opened the balcony doors to reveal that her room had a T.V. present along with a large tub of popcorn on the bed. "I figured we could watch a movie for awhile."

"You are aware if my dad doesn't see us come home, he is going to be really mad with you."

Jango shrugged. "Eh, I'll take my chances." Amanda smiled and walked over to the bed with him, after he turned off the lights. They made themselves comfortable and started the movie.

An hour has past and they were still watching the movie. Most of the popcorn was gone and some was littered over the bed. Amanda was enjoying the movie. But she was really enjoying the fact that she was spending this time with Jango, and vice versa.

Right as the movie was getting to a romantic part, Amanda found herself slowly leaning towards Jango until her head rested on his shoulder. This action surprised Jango, but seeing it was Amanda he relaxed. He then took a closer look to see that she had fallen asleep. He smiled softly and put his arm around her, making her smile in her sleep.

When the movie was finally over, both Jango and Amanda were asleep and rather close to each other. The T.V. was shut off by Zangoose, who happened to have past by and heard the movie end. When he saw the two of them sleeping together, he couldn't help but smile. "Can't wait to see the reactions on their faces when they wake up. I wonder how the king will react to this." With those thoughts in mind, he covered them with a blanket and left to go to sleep himself.


	14. New Life, New Worries

The morning sunlight peeked throughout the castle windows, bringing the start of another glorious day for everyone.

Jango started to stir from his sleep. He stopped only to remember the wonderful time he had last night with Amanda. He was hoping that he could do something like that again with her next time.

He started to stretch and attempted to get out of bed. He felt something small on it. He picked it up and opened his eyes a little. _Popcorn? Why is there popcorn in my bed?_ He moved his paw to the other side of the bed and felt something larger.

The object felt warm and cozy to the touch. It was really fluffy and smooth at the same time. Jango thought it felt like a cloud of relief. He sighed as he continued to stroke it, not knowing what it was at the moment. _Man, this is really soft and…so warm. I didn't know I had anything this soft in my room._

As Jango recounted the events from last night, he went wide eyed. _Wait a minute; did I even go back to my room last night?_ His thoughts were answered by a light snoring. He slowly turned his head and saw that what he was stroking so pleasantly was Amanda. He yelped quietly and retracted his paw, making him fall out of bed. His entire face was redder than usual. _Oh man, that was embarrassing._

He got up to see if he woke her. Luckily, she was still sleeping peacefully. Jango sighed with relief. There was no way he would be able to explain that to her. He took another glance at her and smiled, thinking how beautiful she looked while she was sleeping. He chuckled a bit and pulled the tossed blanket over her. He tip-toed out of the room and slowly closed the door. Just as he did, he whispered, "Sweet dreams Amanda." Once he closed the door, he made his way downstairs to the kitchen.

As he entered, he got a bowl, some cereal, and a glass of milk for breakfast. He started to pour his cereal into the bowl while thinking. _I wonder if the king will be angry at me for not showing up before midnight. True I brought Amanda back before midnight, but I did sneak us into the house. My only hope is that he went to sleep when we got back._

"Morning Jango." A voice said from behind. This particular voice made Jango yelp and toss some cereal from the box onto the counter. You guessed it, it was the king himself. "How did you sleep last night?" He asked as he sat down and pulled out a newspaper.

"Oh, fine, I slept fine." Jango said casually. Despite how he was hiding the nervous look on his face really well, his tail flame was flickering with his nervousness.

"That's nice. Where is my sweet daughter? She usually has breakfast around now."

"She went to bed a little late, so I think it would be best to let her sleep in for awhile." Jango began to eat his breakfast.

"So Amanda is still asleep. I shouldn't be surprised that you know this because you did sleep with her last night." That made Jango swallow his food too fast and he started to choke on it. "Jango, are you alright?"

Jango kept whacking the back of his throat until the cereal went flying out of his mouth. After some breaths of relief, he began to panic. "Okay look, before you say anything, it is not what you think. We only watch a movie last night and we may have fallen asleep right when it ended-"

"I know." Ampharos said.

"-and we weren't doing anything inappropriate, so what I'm trying to say is…" Jango paused briefly. "Wait, you knew?"

Ampharos puts his paper down and gave Jango a small smile. "Zangoose informed me of you're little plan last night." Jango made a mental note to thank Zangoose later. "When I saw you two asleep this morning, I thought it was kind of funny."

"Funny?!" Jango said flabbergasted. This was coming from Amanda's over-protective father who would probably send someone else to jail for doing that, but he thought it was funny with him.

"Jango, I know you wouldn't do anything inappropriate with my daughter because you are very trusting. There isn't one thing about that I would find wrong about you."

Jango looked to the ground feeling a bit guilty. _That's only the stuff that you know of._ "My king, with all due respect, I'm not exactly the most…'perfect' guy in the world."

"NONSENSE!" Ampharos yelled at Jango, making him flinch. "You are a great kid and I know it. In fact, maybe when you get older, I could even get you a spot on the royal guards."

"Really?" Jango said curiously.

"With your type of fighting style, you could make a good guard in the future." Ampharos got up and went to a brewing machine to make some coffee. "You have a good life ahead of you, Jango. I know the future is looking bright for you." He took his coffee and left the room, leaving Jango with his thoughts.

Jango started to wonder about the possibilities of staying with them. _Staying here means that I could have a future to look forward to. A future as a royal guard, a future with freedom, a future with new friends, a future with…Amanda._ As Jango thought this over, Jamison came in with a small package.

"Oh, good, you are awake. I got this package for you." Jamison handed over the package to Jango.

"Someone sent me a package? Who?" Jango looked over the box.

"I don't know, it said something on it that said I.A." Hearing that made Jango flinch uncomfortably. "Is it someone you know?"

Jango tapped his claws on the box. "Um, yeah. Someone from awhile back. Thanks, I'll open it later."

"Alright, see you later." Jamison left to continue with his chores.

Jango looked at the package and began to think nervously. _This can't be good if it's from Inferno._

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Immediately after breakfast, Jango dashed up to the garden on the roof. He was holding onto the package tightly. He was getting nervous because he knew that this package was from Inferno himself.

I.A. was his code name if he had to deliver something or do missions himself. To others, it stands for Isaac Arthur. But, to fellow allies, it stands for Inferno Assassin. No one was able to catch on to the name or anyone who hasn't lived to see daylight ever again.

Jango made his way to the top of the castle to see the garden. He carefully looked around to make sure no one was present at the time. Whatever was in the package could not be seen by anyone else or his cover is blown.

Just as he was sure he was alone, he sighed and made his way over to the bench. He set the package in his lap and began to open it. It felt kind of light when he was carrying it. Maybe it was new supplies or weapons or bombs or secret plans for world domination. Whatever it was, Jango was not looking forward to it.

Once the package was fully opened, he saw the contents inside. However, upon seeing them, he had to do a double take to make sure he was looking at it right. Inside the box was his Draco uniform, the very one that struck fear into many hearts. He pulled it out to get a better look at it.

This was the very suit Inferno had specially made for him. The suit was designed to absorb attacks and lessen the damage to a miniscule amount of power. The mask aloud Jango's senses to be heightened to increase his awareness. The suit was light and very flexible, making Jango's movement fast and furious. This suit was the only reason why he survived his missions. His defense was not that great, so the suit helps out by acting as some sort of force field. It would take a major amount of power and energy in order to penetrate the suit and damage the wearer.

Jango was confused as to why Inferno would send this until he saw something else in the box. He pulled it out to see it was a tablet of sorts. These were the video messages Inferno would send to see how his assassins were doing. Judging by the blinking light on the top of it, Inferno was waiting for him to answer. With a gulp, Jango pressed a series of digital keys and started to show a live image of Inferno.

"Jango, good to see you. So you managed to get the package I sent you?" Inferno said as calm as ever.

Jango was trying to hide his nervousness. "Um, yeah, wasn't a problem at all."

"Excellent. So, have you made any progress in eliminating the princess?"

Jango was scratching the back of his head. "Well, you see my lord; I've made zero progress in trying to kill her."

Despite his calm look, Inferno had to raise an eyebrow on that. "Well, that is peculiar. With your vast records, you should have killed her by now."

"Well, it isn't as easy as you would think. Sense I was hired to be her bodyguard, I have to escort her everywhere making it difficult for me to eliminate her in public. Then there's the whole problem with her family always keeping an eye out for her sense they are cautious in some things. Plus, a friend of my last target is staying with them for awhile. There may be a chance he can figure out who I am."

"But there is still the effectiveness of killing her in her sleep." Inferno pointed out.

"Oh, that must have slipped my mind." Jango laughed nervously.

Inferno sighed in disappointment. "Jango, what is going on? You don't act this way all the time when I talk to you."

Jango sighed. "It's…really complicated at the moment." As far as Jango knew, Inferno doesn't know anything about the Hidden Blaze or its existence. Hiding it was really hard on some occasions, but that's a story for another time. "Inferno, may I ask you a question?"

Inferno shrugged. "I don't see the harm in it."

"Do we really have to take over Poketopia? Are you sure there isn't some other kingdom you can take over for your enjoyment?" Jango was really hoping he would have second thoughts.

Unfortunately, luck was not on his side. "Jango, you know Poketopia has the greatest amount of power and resources for our conquests. Taking it over will lead to big things in the future for the League of Assassins."

Jango tried to think of something else. "But…is it really necessary to kill Amanda in order to take over? Isn't there another way?"

Inferno was slowly losing his patients. "Jango, I told you that once an heir is killed and there is no alternate, the kingdom will go into a state of panic and the royal cycle will be broken."

Jango was slowly getting mad now. "Well, I say there should be another way to do this. I say that there has to be a way to take over without killing anyone."

Inferno was really losing his patients. "Jango, we are the League of Assassins. Everyone in it was trained in the art of stealth and deceit. But I trained you differently. I trained you to attack head on so I can strike fear into the hearts of my enemies. You were trained to demonstrate the true power of the League. Now, I order you to have the princess killed by tonight."

Jango has had it. "NO!" He snapped loudly.

Inferno was baffled, but angry. "Excuse me?!"

"I said NO! I've had enough of this. I'm tired of killing Pokémon and this entire mission. You may think I'm coldhearted, but the fire inside of me as finally melted through the ice. Ever sense I got here, I have been focused on nothing but the mission. That was until I started it."

"What are you talking about?!"

"I was treated with kindness and respect. I was shown things I have never seen before: a normal life. It was the best time of my life. I even learned that I still have family left. You promised you help me find my parents' killer, but you've done nothing. And you know what else I was shown."

"What?" Inferno asked in curiosity and annoyance.

"LOVE. I fell in love with someone who understands my problems. Someone who cares for me, who enjoys hanging out with me, who has the same interest as me. And do you want to know what the shocker is? The one I fell in love with is the very princess you sent me to eliminate."

Inferno had a deep glare, yet he also had an unnoticeable smirk. "What are you saying?"

"THAT I QUIT!" Jango's eyes changed from blue to red and his body was starting to emit steam. "Consider this my resignation." He grasped the tablet with one paw and began to crush it slowly.

"Jango, I'm giving you a direct order to-" He was cut off when Jango crushed the tablet, breaking the connection.

"**I don't take orders from you anymore."** Jango growled demonically. He threw the broken device to the ground and, giving it a death glare, it started to melt into nothing. He was growling dangerously was about to start throwing fire balls everywhere when he heard someone.

"Jango, are you out here?" Amanda said through the garden door. The door knob started to jiggle. Snapping out of his trance, Jango frantically put the Draco uniform back in the box. Once it was closed up, he stood there casually with the box when Amanda came out. "There you are. I was looking all over for you."

"Well, here I am." Jango said gesturing at himself.

Amanda rolled her eyes jokingly. "Whatever. Hey, do you want to watch some T.V. with me? I got nothing plan at the moment."

"I think that will be nice." They went to the living room. But on the way, Jango made a quick stop to his room and placed the box inside his drawers. "With no more assassins to worry about, my life just gotten a whole lot better." He shut the drawers, letting us see nothing but darkness.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Inferno sat at his throne processing what just happened. One minute he was checking up on his star assassin, the next he suddenly quits. If this happened to anyone else, they probably would be devastated. But Inferno, he was…laughing?

He laughed in his throne in a dark and twisted way, finding his current situation humorous. Out of the shadows came an Alakazam wearing a white lab coat. He walked near his lord's throne. "My lord, what is so funny about this? Don't you realize that you have just lost your top assassin?"

Inferno ceased laughing and turned towards him. "Yes Dr. Psi, I know it looks that way. But in reality, it is all part of my plan for global take over."

"How so?" Dr. Psi asked questioningly.

"I will explain to you later. But what I need for you to do is whip up a special chemical listed on this." Inferno held up a sheet of paper in his claws. Using his Psychic, Psi took the instructions and read them.

"This is a very peculiar chemical, but I will get started on it right away." Psi left the room, leaving inferno in the room alone.

He chuckled darkly. "Oh Jango, you'll be in for a surprise when the month is up. Then that kingdom and the world will soon be mine."


End file.
